7 Maraudering Years
by Kayarin
Summary: The story of the marauders' 7 years at Hogwarts, centering around James and Sirius. Follow their prank filled school years, filled with friendship, loyalty, and hilarious mishaps.
1. Peculiar Boys and Staring Contests

**This is my first fanfic so I hope you enjoy it! I hope to actually finish all 7 of their school years but that could take a while. So have fun reading!**

Peculiar Boys and Staring Contests

James Potter bounced excitedly on the balls of his feet. It was here! The day he had been waiting for since…well, since before he could remember. He was going to Hogwarts!

He looked around Platform 9 ¾ with eager eyes. It was easy to tell the muggles from the rest by their looks and gasps of astonishment. Not that he wasn't amazed of course. He just liked to think that his jaw wasn't falling off his head.

Grinning he noticed a red haired girl gaping at everything in wonder. Tearing his gaze away from her (she was quite pretty) he turned to look at the other people on the platform.

Several people briefly caught his attention, a ragged boy with sandy brown hair and a chubby little boy to name a few, but he kept looking around. That is, until he noticed a lone boy with shoulder length, black hair standing by his trunks.

James stared curiously at what he decided was a very peculiar boy. He was standing haughtily but James could see emotions roiling behind his guarded gray eyes. What those emotions were was harder to figure out. He thought he caught a glimpse of loneliness and maybe longing, but he wasn't sure.

Suddenly, the boy looked over at James and saw him staring. To his surprise, the boy stared right back at him. It wasn't a staring contest. No, it was more of a you stare at me, I stare at you, let's stare at each other contest.

In fact, he was staring so intently, he nearly fell over his trunk when his mom tapped him on the shoulder.

"James," said his mother, Arlene, "did you hear a word I said?" James shook his head sheepishly and grinned. His mom frowned but James could see her eyes sparkling. "What was so captivating that you could completely ignore me?"

James shrugged and glanced back at the boy. His mom followed his gaze and saw the boy too. She grabbed his arm and spun him around.

"James," she said forcefully, "that is a Black. You know how much trouble they cause your father at work. I don't want you to associate with someone like him." James rolled his eyes in annoyance. It was a well known fact that the Potters and the Blacks were, to put it nicely, not on good terms.

"Mum," he groaned, "I am eleven years old. I know how to think and make decisions. Do you not trust me to make good friends?" His mom frowned.

"Of course I trust you," she said, "It's just that you have a knack for attracting trouble. And the Blacks are definitely trouble."

"Honey," intervened James's dad, "Let him be. It's his first day of Hogwarts and he should be allowed to have some fun." He winked at James from behind Arlene's back. "Even if it means causing havoc on his first train ride."

"Thank you, Dad," breathed James as his mom yelled, "John!" John just smiled.

"But your mom is right," his dad said. "The Blacks are one of the families that don't believe muggle-borns should be allowed. They're into the dark arts, so be careful."

Sighing heavily, James looked back to see the boy still staring at him. If his parents thought he would befriend a dark arts maniac, they were dead wrong. He couldn't stand people like that. But there seemed to be something different about this boy. He didn't seem as…well, as dark.

He turned around to grab his trunk when his mom suddenly wrapped him a bone crushing hug.

"Mum," he whined, "you're embarassing me." His mom just sniffled and James noticed the tears running down her face. "Mum, I won't be gone for long," he said hugging her back. "And don't worry, I'll send you my knickers so you can wash them after I've worn them for a week or two." His mom stepped back and glared at him.

"James Potter," she said scathingly, "you will do no such thing. You will change you knickers every single night or you'll be hearing from me." His dad stepped forward and embraced him.

"Good luck," his dad whispered in his ear. "Make us proud." He stepped back to stand with his mom. "We'll send you tons of letters," his dad said more loudly.

"And you'd better write back," added his mom sternly.

"Oh don't worry," James smirked, "I'll write back. And I'll add a little something special too."

"Don't you dare send us part of one the knights," his mom said.

"Wait," James looked at his parents in amazement, "are you telling me there are fully armed knights at Hogwarts?" His eyes turned dreamy. "Oh the fun that awaits me." His mom looked horrified.

"I'm looking forward to your letters," his dad said as the train blew its whistle. "You'd better hurry. The train is leaving." Giving his parents a final wave, James jumped onto the Hogwarts Express just in time.

James soon realized the problem of getting on the train at the last second. Almost all the compartments were full. There was a lot of pushing and shoving, and it seemed first years weren't in high demand as compartment mates. Finally, at the back of the train, he found an almost empty compartment.

"Excuse me," James said as he pushed open the door, "can I sit here? The rest of the compartments are already full." The boy staring out the window nodded without looking at him.

James put away his trunk and sat down. The boy was still staring out the window. With a jolt, he realized that this was none other than the peculiar boy who had been staring at him earlier, the one that his mom said not to talk to. It was oddly silent in the compartment as neither boy said a word.

"Hi, I'm James Potter," he said, deciding to ignore his mom's warning. He was old enough to make his own decisions and friends. The boy turned around to look at him with dull eyes.

"Sirius Black," he said in a monotone. James smiled. At least the boy was talking now.

"Nice to meet you," James said. "Do you like Quidditch? What's your favorite team? I'm going to be the star of my house team one day, you just watch. It sucks that first years aren't allowed to play. I hope I'm in Gryffindor. After all, my entire family has been there. What house do you think you'll be in?" James's endless babbling was cut short by Sirius's harsh voice.

"Why the hell are you talking to me?" Sirius asked suspiciously, "You're not going to curse me and run to another compartment?"

"Why would I do that?" James asked.

"You're a Potter and I'm a Black," Sirius said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Our families hate each other. And I saw your mum telling you not to talk to me."

"Then shouldn't you have cursed me and kept me out of your compartment?" James retorted. Sirius looked taken aback.

"I'm just," Sirius paused and turned back to the window, "different. But you're a Potter through and through. My parents would kill me if they knew I was talking to you. You should've hated me right away, just by hearing my name." Something flashed in Sirius's eyes again.

"Now that's not fair," James pouted. "Are you saying I'm supposed to be prejudiced?" Sirius looked at him and offered a shy grin.

"So you don't hate me?" Sirius asked. James shook his head. And so they began to talk.

James soon found they had a lot in common for two people who were supposed to hate each other. As Sirius slowly opened up, James found himself wondering how his mom could've thought this boy was into the dark arts. They were actually laughing at the time James had put pins charmed to bite into the cushions in his living room, when the door opened and two boys were shoved in.

"What happened?" James asked as the boys got up from the floor. They dusted themselves off and stood silently by the door. James recognized them as the shabby looking boy and the chubby boy he had seen at the station.

"We won't eat you," added James, noticing how still Sirius had become. The chubby boy fiddled nervously with his shirt while the ragged boy stood still and stared at the ground.

"I think some Slytherins decided to bully the first years," said the ragged boy in a quiet voice. "Sorry for bothering you. We'll leave now." He turned around to leave and the chubby boy followed him.

"Wait!" exclaimed James. "Why don't you stay in here with us? We don't mind, right?" He looked over at Sirius and was surprised to see the other boy's eyes had become guarded again.

"Really?" asked the chubby boy happily, "You'll let us stay here with you?" He smiled and sat down. "Thanks, I thought we would have to get bullied again." James frowned.

"If some stinkin' Slytherins decide to bully me, I'm going to hex them!" exclaimed James hotly. He ignored the fact that he didn't know any hexes yet.

"I wish I could join you," Sirius said, speaking for the first time since the two boys had come in. James was about to ask why he couldn't when the chubby boy interrupted him.

"Wow," he said in an awed voice, "you're so brave. I'll bet you'll both be in Gryffindor." James grinned importantly and agreed but Sirius just snorted.

"By the way," James said, "I'm James Potter. And this is Sirius Black." The compartment became silent again. The shabby boy, who had finally taken a seat in the corner, glanced up for the first time to look at them is surprise. The chubby boy was staring at Sirius in fear and was slowly edging away from him.

"Remus Lupin," said the shabby boy in his quiet voice.

"I-I'm Peter P-P-Pettigrew," stuttered the other boy in a squeaky voice. He seemed terrified of Sirius for some reason.

Sirius suddenly stood up and Peter gave an alarmed squeak while trembling in his seat. Without saying a word, he glared at them all and swept out of the compartment. James gaped at the slammed door for a few seconds.

"What did we do?" James asked nobody in particular, getting mad. There was no reason for Sirius to just leave. Did he think he was too good for them?

James remembered what his parents had once said about the Blacks. Apparently, they thought anyone who wasn't a pureblood was beneath them. They also looked down on anyone poorer than them and on families who didn't think badly of muggles. Maybe Sirius thought Remus in his shabby robes and Peter weren't good enough. And James's family was known to approve of muggle born witches and wizards.

Angrily, James decided to forget he had ever thought Sirius was different from those other slime-eating Slytherin gits. He would probably end up in Slytherin anyways, like the rest of his stupid family. James spent the rest of the trip talking to Remus and Peter.

Unfortunately, when the train finally stopped, he had to admit it had been more fun talking to Sirius. Remus barely said a word throughout the trip, and Peter agreed with everything he said. If he said it was cool to wear pink knickers on your head, Remus would stay silent and Peter would agree. Against his will, he began imagining what Sirius would say if he heard that.

As James clambered off the train, he saw a Slytherin girl talking to Sirius and a greasy haired boy with a hooked nose. James purposely ignored Sirius's dejected stance and instead focused on his anger towards him. Sirius had left them to join some Slytherins. What a stupid git. He didn't deserve James's sympathy; he deserved to become a rotting corpse in the dungeons with the rest of his family. Just like that greasy haired boy.

"Firs' years, this way!" a huge voice boomed. James was snapped out of his thoughts and he ogled at the giant man standing in front of him. Slowly he followed the giant to a row of boats. "On'y four to a boat," he boomed again.

James climbed into a boat and was followed by Remus and Peter. To his dismay, Sirius climbed in too. James glared at him but Sirius was off in his own world. The giant tapped his boat and all of them took off across the lake.

James strained his eyes trying to get his first glance of Hogwarts though the dark night. When the boats turned and he finally saw it, he was speechless.

"It's beautiful," whispered Sirius, saying exactly what James felt. The three boys nodded their agreement. Hogwarts was a giant, sparkling castle. It seemed full of mystery and excitement. Much too soon, the boats reached the other shore and everyone got out. At the door, they were met by a stern looking witch with her hair in a tight bun.

"Evenin' Professor McGonagall" said the giant. "Here's the firs' years."

"Thank you Hagrid," said Professor McGonagall, "I'll take them from here." She turned to the students. "Follow me." The first years had to jog to keep up with McGonagall's brisk stride.

She led them to the Great Hall, and if it was possible, James was even more amazed. The ceiling looked exactly like the night sky. The teachers sat at a high table in the front and there were four house tables. James didn't want to admit it, but he was rather intimidated

"When I call your name," started Professor McGonagall, "I want you to come up here and put on the Sorting Hat. It will decide the house you are to be put into. This house will be your family for the next seven years, so this is not a moment to be taken lightly." She pulled out a list and began to call out names.

James swallowed nervously. He was pretty sure he would get into Gryffindor, but what if he didn't? What if he was put in _Slytherin?_ James shuddered at the thought. That would be much worse than the time his cousin had forced him to eat a concoction of ketchup and mayonnaise, and that had to be one of the worst moments of his life.

"Black, Sirius." James looked up as Sirius put on the Sorting Hat. He sat there for quite some time, which seemed to surprise the Slytherin table. Sirius's hands were shaking slightly, and he seemed to be fighting with the hat. Finally the hat yelled, "Gryffindor!"

The entire hall was silent. Sirius took off the hat and walked dazedly to the Gryffindor table. James studied him and was enraged to see that he didn't seem too happy to be there. It was an honor to be sorted into Gryffindor! How could Sirius be upset? It just went to show how stupid he was.

But the hat's decision with Sirius frightened him. If the hat was malfunctioning so badly as to put a Black in Gryffindor, who knew what house James would end up in. James was more nervous than ever.

Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were sorted into Gryffindor along with the red haired girl, whose name was Lily Evans. Several kids were sorted into other houses before James was called.

"Potter, James." James walked anxiously up to the hat. He placed it on his head and sat down. He didn't have to wait long. "Gryffindor!" yelled the hat after barely a second.

Grinning broadly, James walked over to the Gryffindor table amidst tumultuous applause. He sat down next to Remus and Peter, and several people clapped him on the back in congratulations.

He looked over at Sirius, who was sitting alone at the end of the table, and noticed those hidden emotions peeping through his eyes again. Pushing Sirius's eyes out of his mind, James watched as everyone else was sorted and Dumbledore stood up.

Dumbledore gave a welcoming speech and the dishes then filled with food. James dug in and was soon full. The wonderful food drove thoughts of Sirius to the back of his mind, and he was filled with contentment. James's wearily made some mental notes about interesting sights to remember for later as the prefects led everyone to the dorm rooms. With a start, James realized that he had forgotten that he would be sleeping in the same room as Sirius.

James flopped onto his bed. There was nothing he could do about Sirius at the moment. Before he knew it, he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

**So what did you think? Did you hate it? Like it? Please review so I can make the next chapter better! I'll try to update soon. Thank you!**


	2. A Howler and a Prank

**Yay! I finished chapter two! Thank you to Melissarx1 who reviewed, and faster than I ever thought possible! I hope you enjoy this chapter! Oh, and I forgot the disclaimer last chapter so here it is. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter books or any of the characters. I know it's sad but what can I do?**

James opened his eyes and looked around. Where was he? This wasn't his room. With a happy whoop, he realized where he was. He was at Hogwarts!

Disregarding the disgruntled groans of the other boys, James jumped out of bed and dressed for his first real day of school. Strange boy he was, excited about school, but he didn't care. This wasn't any school, he was going to learn magic, and he was going to use it well. He moved around excitedly, not thinking about the racket he was making.

"Would you shut the hell up?" muttered Sirius, obviously irritated at being woken up so early in the morning. James ignored him and finished dressing as Peter and Remus got up too.

"Wait for me," Peter called as James was about to leave. James stopped at the door and waited impatiently for Peter to be ready and decided to wait for Remus too. The three boys walked together to the Great Hall for breakfast.

About twenty minutes later, Sirius came down to breakfast. He glanced at all the people sitting at the table before taking a seat by himself on the edge. James snorted in disgust.

"What?" asked Peter curiously, hearing James's snort.

"Sirius Black is such a stuck up prat," snarled James. Peter looked confused but he nodded his agreement anyways. Remus, however, just looked at James strangely before digging into his food as if he hadn't eaten a good meal in weeks. Judging by his gaunt appearance, he hadn't either.

The rest of the meal passed quietly and, in James's opinion, boringly. That is, until the mail arrived. Owls swooped into the Great Hall, causing several students to gasp at the unexpected sight.

James grinned as a barn owl dropped an envelope onto his plate. He tore it open and read the letter from his parents. It was nothing special, they mostly congratulated him on getting into Gryffindor, but it was nice to know they were thinking about him. But it also reminded his that he needed to write back, and he needed to add a little present to his letter.

Farther down the table, it seemed that someone else's parents were thinking about him too. Sirius was holding an envelope that was obviously a Howler. With a look of depressed resignation, he held it as far from his body as possible and ripped it open.

"**Sirius Black!" **screamed a harsh woman's voice, **"You should be ashamed! How dare you get sorted into Gryffindor? You have dishonored the family name beyond anything I thought possible, even for a disgrace like you! I'll be coming to talk to Dumbledore personally to get you resorted into Slytherin! You'd better not be talking to any mudbloods or blood traitors or you'll be hearing from me again!"**

With those parting words, the Howler burst into flame and disappeared. The entire hall was silent. The words mud blood and blood traitor were both highly insulting and they had just been screamed aloud for everyone to hear.

Sirius stood up and walked slowly out of the Great Hall, leaving his plate untouched. After a few seconds, everyone began talking again. James could hear some Slytherins snickering loudly while saying rude comments. At the Gryffindor table, people didn't seem to think much better of Sirius.

"How did he get sorted into Gryffindor?" asked a fifth year boy, "He belongs in Slytherin." Several people nodded their agreement, and James suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for Sirius.

"We have transfiguration first," said Peter, oblivious to the conversations going on around him. "We should leave now if we want to get there on time." James nodded and stood up, still thinking about Sirius. He waited for Remus and then followed Peter.

"Umm, Peter, I think you led us the wrong way," said Remus, speaking for the first time that morning. James looked around and realized he had no idea where they were. Apparently Peter had led them the wrong way while James hadn't been paying attention.

"Oh no," groaned James, "We're going to be late to our first class. And of course it's with Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor house and supposedly one of the strictest teachers around. We're doomed." Peter whimpered apologetically.

"Follow me," said Remus quietly, "I think I might be able to get us there on time." James, who was completely lost, happily put his life if Remus's hopefully capable hands.

As James followed Remus, he noticed a bunch of Slytherins talking in hushed voices in an adjacent hallway. Curiosity getting the better of him, James stopped and began to spy on them.

He was surprised to see Sirius standing with them, talking. Any sympathy James had felt toward Sirius disappeared. Sirius was betraying Gryffindor house! Everyone knew Gryffindors and Slytherins hated each other. And here Sirius was, a Gryffindor talking with Slytherins. James decided right there and then not to trust Sirius with anything, the rotten slug.

Sirius was going to be resorted into Slytherin if what his mom said was true. And anything he learned about Gryffindor would give Slytherin an advantage. At the moment, Sirius was the ideal spy for Slytherin since he was in the perfect position to get information and to sabotage Gryffindor house.

"James," squeaked Peter's voice, "are you coming? Remus found the transfiguration classroom down this corridor." James had seen enough of Sirius's traitorous behavior, so he nodded. He ran over to Peter and Remus and sat next to them in the classroom.

"Thank goodness we were with you," James said gratefully to Remus with a smile. "I would have been lost for quite a while without you. I was kind of spacey earlier." Remus's eyes lit up and for the first time, James saw a small smile on his face.

"It was nothing," Remus said as Professor McGonagall started the class. Several minutes later, Sirius walked into the classroom. Professor McGonagall raised and eyebrow at him.

"You're late," she stated calmly. Sirius nodded and looked at the floor.

"I'm sorry, Professor," Sirius said, "I got lost." James glared at him. Right. He'd been lost alright, lost with a bunch of foul-smelling Slytherins.

"Five points from Gryffindor," McGonagall said, "be on time to my next class. Take a seat."

James wasn't the only one glaring now. All the Gryffindors were glaring, and the Slytherins, who they had the class with, were sneering. When he'd seen Sirius in the hall he'd been afraid of this. Sirius could lose them tons of points without caring. It wasn't fair!

Unfortunately for James, the only open seat was next to him. Sirius walked over and sat down, pointedly ignoring his glare. James was so busy either glaring at Sirius or giving him the cold shoulder that he didn't take in any of McGonagall's speech until it was too late.

"Mr. Potter," said Professor McGonagall, indicating a match on her desk, "would you like to demonstrate?"

James's head snapped up and he began to panic. He didn't even know what they were supposed to be doing. They could be making frogs do the hula for all he knew. He stood up and walked over to her desk gripping his wand tightly. He looked down at the match and then up at his teacher.

"Erm," he coughed nervously, "What exactly and I trying to do?" McGonagall sighed and James heard several sniggers.

"You're trying to change this match into a needle," McGonagall said, "next time try to pay attention to what I'm saying instead of glaring at your classmates." James turned slightly red, and several Slytherins laughed loudly at this until McGonagall silenced them with a glare of her own.

James clenched his hands in anger and suddenly remembered what Mr. Olivander had said when he bought his wand. He had said that James's wand was particularly good at transfiguration. James hoped he was right or he was going to become a laughingstock.

James took a deep breath and waved his wand over the match. To his delight, the match turned into a pointy, silver needle. He looked triumphantly up at Professor McGonagall's slightly shocked face. She obviously hadn't thought he would be successful on his first try.

"Excellent, five points to Gryffindor," McGonagall said with a rare smile, "I guess I have a natural at transfiguration this year." James grinned and went back to his seat as matches appeared on all of the desks. Everyone was now attempting to change their matches into needles.

James quickly changed his match into a needle for a second time and changed it back. Next to him, Remus was doing okay except that his needle still had a dull end that could light on fire. Peter was having no luck at all and his match was still a match.

"Professor," called out Sirius, "I've managed to change mine." Professor McGonagall strode over and checked Sirius's work. She nodded in satisfaction.

"It seems I might have two naturals," she said to both of them. Sirius seemed happy but James just glowered fiercely. He didn't want to be associated with Sirius in any way.

James soon found that, as much as he hated to admit it, he and Sirius were equally good at almost everything. In the next few weeks, the two boys soon proved themselves to be top of practically every class. Granted, James was better and transfiguration. But surprisingly, Sirius was better at Defense Against the Dark Arts, so it evened out.

Why, of all people in the class, did Sirius have to be the one who was also greatly talented? Why couldn't it have been Remus, who usually finished soon after them, or the red head girl named Lily Evans, who was really bright, or even Peter, who was sadly hopeless at every class?

The competition and animosity between the two boys escalated. It was only rivaled by the traditional, but bitter enmity between Gryffindor and Slytherin house. James was determined to beat Sirius, at anything and everything, and it didn't help that he kept seeing Sirius surrounded by groups of Slytherins in between classes.

Between classes and hating Sirius, James soon became antsy and needed an outlet for his energy. Much to the older Gryffindors' amusement, James energy was soon channeled into pranks on Slytherins. He was often the culprit behind the mishaps Slytherins seemed to attrat in class, or the reason they arrived for dinner covered in mud or bat spleens. And occasionally, he 'accidentally' hit Sirius in the process.

To James's surprise, there appeared to be someone else playing pranks on the Slytherins too. One day several were late to class because a knight had decided to chase them around the castle. The next day, the greasy haired boy's potion exploded and caused several kids to turn interesting shades of fuchsia.

People wondered if James had anything to do with it, but he was a clueless as they were. However, he was determined to add to the Slytherins misery.

After breakfast one morning, James dragged Remus and Peter over to the transfiguration room to set up a prank. Peter was extremely excited to be included in a prank, but Remus was clearly hesitant.

"We really, really shouldn't be doing this," Remus muttered under his breath. He kept looking furtively over his shoulder, sure that a teacher would come in at any moment.

"Oh, don't worry so much," James grinned, "lighten up and have some fun!" With out so much as looking up, James continued to work.

"Yes," Remus whispered, "but what if we're caught? What if this goes horribly wrong and we get expelled?"

James ignored his warnings and Remus eventually gave up. With Remus finally helping, the prank was quickly ready despite Peter's several blunders.

James stood back to admire their work. Buckets were strung along the ceiling the whole length of the hall. After class, James would stand in an out of the way nook to start the prank. He would say a spell he'd recently learned and the bucket he pointed to would tip over and dump its contents on the unwary victim.

Smirking, James scurried away to warn his fellow Gryffindors to stay away from the hall after class.

Transfiguration passed excruciatingly slowly to James. He was out the door as soon as the bell rang. Hiding in his hidden nook, he waited impatiently for his first victims.

His fun started when several Slytherins, including the greasy haired kid with a big nose, walked out of his class. They walked unsuspectingly under the first bucket. With a few whispered words, they were covered in mushed egg with chunks of sausage James had saved from breakfast.

James laughed hysterically from his hiding spot and got ready for the next batch of students. Soon, people were screaming and running around the hallway, trying to dodge buckets of leftover food and falling on their faces in squished egg for their efforts.

There were only a few buckets left when Sirius stepped out of the transfiguration room. James started tipping over buckets at random, and unfortunately, Sirius happened to be underneath one.

James laughed at Sirius's surprised face. But to his dismay, Sirius scanned the crowd and stalked straight over to James's spot. He grabbed James and angrily pulled him into the chaotic hallway.

"What the hell was that for?" Sirius snarled, still holding onto James's cloak.

"I don't know what you mean," James said haughtily, shaking off Sirius's hands.

"I'm not stupid," Sirius growled, "I know you're behind this." James was glaring just as furiously as Sirius now.

"So what if I am?" James snapped.

"You didn't have to hit me with this stuff!" yelled Sirius throwing a handful of the mashed potatoes on his robes at James's face. James dodged the potatoes but was furious with Sirius for throwing them at him.

"Well maybe I mistook you for a Slytherin," James taunted, "I mean you're going to be one anyways."

"No," Sirius said, "I'm not."

"But I thought that's what you wanted," James sneered. "Or did your mother give you up for a lost cause?"

At this last statement, Sirius launched himself at James and punched him in the eye. James quickly recovered and threw a punch at Sirius that connected with his nose. The two boys grappled with each other on the floor, each trying to get the upper hand.

"Enough!" Professor McGonagall's voice rang across the hall. Everyone froze except for the two boys of the floor, who continued to fight. McGonagall shot green sparks at them and they finally jumped apart and scrambled to their feet.

They were quite a sight. James had a black eye and his lip was bleeding. Sirius's nose was bleeding freely and he had several scratches on his cheek. Both were covered in what looked like regurgitated breakfast. Neither boy cowered under the withering glare McGonagall placed on them.

"Everyone to your next class, _now_," McGonagall's voice was deadly soft. "There's no time to clean yourselves up right now. Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, follow me."

Both boys walked sulkily into her office, glaring at the sneering, greasy haired Slytherin, who had ketchup dripping slowly off his nose and a chunk of sausage stuck in his ear.

"Mr. Snape informed me that this mayhem was caused by you two," McGonagall stated. Sirius began to protest but she cut him off.

"However, even if you had nothing to do with the prank," she looked as if she highly doubted it, "you will both receive detention for fighting. You are both Gryffindors and I expected better of two of my best students." She paused to glare at them. "Meet me here at six every night for a week starting tomorrow."

Outside her office, Sirius gave James one last glare before stalking off. James stared at Sirius's retreating back and then went to class.

That night in the common room, James told Peter and Remus everything that had happened. James was ranting about how he was going to get back at Sirius and that greasy haired git named Snape when Remus hesitantly spoke up.

"You really shouldn't have hit Sirius with one of the buckets," he said reprovingly. James looked at him incredulously.

"I didn't do it on purpose," James said.

"But you didn't warn him either," Remus reminded him. James seemed slightly abashed.

"So?" he said defensively, "It's not like he's going to be a Gryffindor much longer so what does it matter?"

"Didn't you say Sirius said he wasn't going to be in Slytherin?" Remus asked curiously. James nodded as he remembered Sirius's words. "So he'll probably be a Gryffindor whether you like it or not. You might as well be kinder to him."

"Why do you care about him?" James asked exasperatedly. Remus eyed him oddly before speaking.

"I know how it feels to be shunned by everyone," he said quietly. Then he turned around and walked up to the dormitory.

James was taken aback. Great. Now he had detention with Sirius and his friend was mad at him for no apparent reason. With a snort, James remembered the sausage in the greasy-haired git's ear. At least he'd had the enjoyment of seeing Slytherins covered in leftover food for all his trouble.

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**Please review and tell me what you think! Hopefully I'll have the next chapter soon, but reviews will help me write faster (wink wink, nudge nudge ;D). **


	3. Revelations in Detention

**That's right, chapter 3 is already up! This chapter is dedicated to melissarxy1. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

The next afternoon, James said goodbye to his friends at five thirty and left the common room. No need to give Professor McGonagall another reason to yell at him.

He was almost at the transfiguration room when he heard voices in another corridor. Wondering what was happening, he snuck over to have a peek.

It was Sirius, surrounded by Slytherins, again. James watched for a few minutes before leaving completely disgusted. There was no way he could take Remus's advice and be nicer to a guy who spent his time conniving with the enemy house.

James was five minutes early to detention so he stood quietly. Sirius ran up just as Professor McGonagall opened the door.

"That was close," McGonagall said with a raised eyebrow.

"Sorry, Professor," Sirius panted, "I was running a bit late." James glared at him as they walked behind McGonagall. Surprisingly, she led them to a classroom in an area of the castle they hadn't visited before.

"Since you two seemed fond of that mess in the hallway yesterday," began McGonagall as she walked into the room, "I decided you needed a lesson in how to clean."

The two boys gaped at the room in horror. It had to be the dirtiest, messiest, and smelliest room either had ever seen. There were burn marks covering the walls and floor, what looked like green slime smeared everywhere, and chunks of who knows what splattered across the room.

"The fifth years had some difficulties in Defense Against the Dark Arts," McGonagall said in answer to their horrified faces. James and Sirius just nodded dumbly. "You are to clean this room. I'll be back in an hour and a half."

She swept out of the room leaving the boys still in shock. Sirius recovered first.

"This is all your fault!" exclaimed Sirius.

"My fault?" yelled James, "you're the one who started the fight! And you're the one who's spending time with those Slytherins. Why don't you just switch out of Gryffindor already? Everyone knows you belong in Slytherin!"

James was fuming. He wasn't the one betraying his house. Sirius was a lying, cheating prat and he deserved detention. Gryffindor had no need of scum like Sirius.

"I already told you that I'm not switching!" Sirius shouted, "Damn it, what did I ever do to you?"

"You're a Black and I'm a Potter," James sneered, "My parents were right."

"That didn't seem to bother you on the train," Sirius growled, "and you still didn't answer my question." James laughed coldly.

"Do?" snarled James, "You ask what you did? You're obviously a spy for the Slytherins. I judged you wrongly when we were on the train. You had me going for a little while."

"Why the hell would I spy for Slytherin?" Sirius asked hotly, "What good would that do me?"

"How should I know how the mind of a dark arts maniac works?" retorted James, "You're just like the rest of your family. Stupid, wart-lugging bags of scum."

"Fine," snapped Sirius, "I can see you're not going to listen to me. Just think about what your life would be like if you were sorted into Slytherin." Sirius spun around and grabbed a mop.

James was shocked into silence. What _would_ his life be like if he was sorted into Slytherin? His parents would probably say they were happy for him while really being furious. He would have no friends because the Slytherins would hate him for being a Potter and the Gryffindors would hate him for being a Slytherin. Life would be pretty bleak.

Grabbing the other mop, James began to absentmindedly clean the floor. He now felt rather foolish for hating Sirius.

"So you're going to stay in Gryffindor?" James asked hesitantly. Sirius began to laugh bitterly.

"So now you finally believe me," Sirius said still laughing. James glared at him and he stopped. A ghost of a smile flitted across his face. "Yep, my dear mother talked to Dumbledore and found that once you're sorted, you can't change houses. So even if I wanted to switch, I can't."

Even if he wanted? Did that mean Sirius didn't want to change houses? That he was happy to be in Gryffindor? Maybe James's first impression of Sirius had been right.

When James walked into the common room that night, he went straight over to Remus, who was working in the corner.

"Hey Remus," James said sheepishly, "I guess you were right about being kinder to Sirius."

"Huh?" Remus asked looking up from his homework. James told him about his conversation, or rather argument, with Sirius in detention. He was thankful when Remus simply listened and didn't say I told you so or anything of the sort.

"Why don't you ask him to eat breakfast with you?" Remus asked after a few minutes.

"But," James stuttered, "But I…" He trailed off as Sirius walked into the common room.

"But what?" Remus asked. "I think you and Sirius will be good friends once you get over hating each other and actually talk." Remus wondered distractedly if that would be a good thing or not. Well, he thought, it would be good for the two of them, but it would be dangerous for the rest of the school.

James just stared at him. Just because he didn't think Sirius was evil didn't mean he wanted to be friends. It just meant they didn't hate each other. Remus grinned slightly as James stood up huffily and walked over to Sirius.

"Hey, um, hi," James said nervously. Sirius looked up, obviously surprised to see James, much less have James talk to him. "I was wondering, um, if you'd, er, if you'd like to sit with me Remus and Peter at breakfast." He said the last bit in a rush and looked at his hands.

"You don't have to if you don't want to of course," James said when Sirius didn't answer.

"No, I'll sit with you," Sirius said hurriedly. James thought his voice sounded slightly hoarse, but he smiled and walked back to Remus.

The next morning, James fidgeted all the way down to breakfast. Sirius was walking down with them and everyone was unnaturally silent. The four boys sat together and began to fill their plates.

"Man," James said, happy to finally break the silence, "you eat a lot." He pointed to Sirius's plate which was piled with more food than even Remus could eat. It seemed as if Sirius was going to tfinish it all too.

"Well I haven't really been eating much so I'm hungry," Sirius said ruefully. Thinking about it, James realized he really hadn't been eating that much. Sirius usually played with the little food on his plate then left before everyone else.

"Well, eat up then," James grinned and piled another stack of toast onto Sirius's plate. Sirius smiled, the first real smile James had seen since the train, and he suddenly looked like a charming, mischievous kid. James realized the pinched, silent look wasn't Sirius's natural state. The meal passed in companionable silence.

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James sighed as he left the common room for his second detention. He was almost there when he heard voices down the same hall as yesterday. Creeping over, he saw Sirius surrounded by Slytherins again.

Something tightened in James's chest. Sirius _had_ been telling the truth when he said he wasn't spying for Slytherin, hadn't he? James wanted to believe Sirius was innocent because much as he hated to admit it, he really liked Sirius.

James was walking away, disappointed, when the voices suddenly raised. He knew he shouldn't eavesdrop, but it was hard not to when he was sure the people in Gryffindor Tower could hear them too. Besides, everything important that a boy ever learned was from listening to secret conversations.

"Well you can tell my precious parents that I don't give a damn!" yelled a familiar voice. It was Sirius!

"Really," sneered a cold, feminine voice, "that's no way for a lowlife like you to speak of your esteemed parents."

"Especially after they put up with you for so many years," added another, silkier voice. James started to turn back to see what was happening.

"Lucious," said the first voice, "do you think we should teach this scum a lesson?" A shrill laugh that sent a chill down James's spine accompanied the question.

"I think that's a wonderful idea, Bella," said the person named Lucious. "And Snape here has some interesting spells he'd like to show us."

James could now see the group of about five Slytherins surrounding Sirius. The leader seemed to be the blonde fifth year prefect named Lucious. Next to him was a girl who James assumed was Bella. On Lucious's other side was the slimy haired boy James knew to be Severous Snape.

Lucious shoved Snape forward with a maliciously excited grin. Snape pointed his wand at Sirius and the next thing James knew, Sirius had fallen to his knees and was clutching his right arm, which was bleeding.

"That's a little present from you dear father," shrilled Bella. "And there's more where that came from. I'd watch out if I were you, especially when you return home."

Rage was boiling through James now. So this was what had been happening when Sirius had been surrounded by Slytherins. Well that was going to end now if he had anything to say about it. Sirius was much better than those Slytherin slimeballs.

Pulling out his wand, James crept up behind them. As a first year, James didn't actually know that many spells, but when would that ever stop him? He would just use the spells he knew to their full extent.

"_Wingardium Leviosa_," James whispered.

A very bewildered Lucious Malfoy was lifted into the air. James laughed as he began to panic, madly waving his arms and legs like a beached jellyfish. When he tired of Lucious's girly shrieks, he unceremoniously dropped him on top of Snape, who was promptly squished by the much larger boy.

Bellatrix, who had heard James's laugh, shot a hex at him. James dodged the curse and hastily waved his wand. He watched in fascination as her hair turned into long needles that began to stab her face and shoulders.

Hearing some squeals, James turned around and found that Sirius had hexed the two remaining Slytherins, who were staring in horror at the boils erupting on both their faces.

Suddenly, sharp footsteps were heard on the hard floor.

"You'll pay for this," hissed Bellatrix as the Slytherins made a mad dash for safety. Professor McGonagall waked up looking ready to kill.

"Explain yourselves," she snapped. James realized that it looked like he and Sirius had been fighting. The Slytherins were no where to be seen and both boys had their wands out.

"Professor, we weren't fighting, honest," James said imploringly. "Some Slytherins were…" James was cut off.

"It's my fault Professor," Sirius interrupted. James stared at him in surprise. Professor McGonagall seemed surprised too.

"Really Mr. Black?" McGonagall asked. Sirius nodded. "Then why is your arm bleeding while Mr. Potter seems to be just fine."

"You see," Sirius began, thinking quickly, "I tripped on the stairs. That's why my wrist is bleeding." Professor McGonagall nodded suspiciously. "I thought James had made me trip because I saw him ahead of me on his way to detention. So I chased him all the way over to here, planning to get him back. But I realize now I tripped by my own clumsy self and it wasn't his fault at all."

James looked at Sirius incredulously. He wasn't about to let Sirius take all the blame. He opened his mouth to say something when he noticed Sirius shaking his head. Glaring, James decided to listen to him.

"I see," Professor McGonagall said thoughtfully. She had watched the exchange between the boys and was hiding a smile. "Mr. Potter, please take Mr. Black to the infirmary to get his arm healed. When you are finished with that, kindly return to my room for your detention." The two boys stared at her, and James could almost hear his jaw creak as it unhinged. "Off you go."

Sirius grabbed James's robe and pulled him away.

"She, she didn't give us detention," spluttered James, "or take house points away. I think something might be wrong with her. Is she poisoned or something? Did someone clean her knickers?"

"I don't know mate, but this arm really hurts," Sirius said. James stopped.

"You're still bleeding!" James exclaimed.

"It's no big deal," Sirius sighed, "I just have to put pressure on it and the bleeding will stop. I've had worse."

"You've had worse?" James asked. Sirius's face darkened and James decided to drop the subject. "Anyway, um, thanks for saving us back there with McGonagall," James said awkwardly, "you didn't have to do that."

"Hey, no problem," Sirius grinned, "and I should be thanking you for helping me with those Slytherins."

"Anytime," James grinned back, "can you forgive me for being a complete ass to you so far?"

"Can you forgive me for not giving you a reason to not be an ass?" Sirius retorted. The two boys laughed together all the way to the infirmary.

Madam Pomfrey, the young nurse, quickly fixed Sirius's arm and sent the two boys out again. They walked back to Professor McGonagall's room and were led to the dungeons, where someone's potion had obviously exploded.

Sighing, the two boys grabbed mops and began to clean. James soon noticed that although the dungeons were as cold and dank as always, he felt warm for some reason. Maybe it was from the physical excursion of cleaning, but maybe, maybe it was because he and Sirius had finally become friends.

"You know," James said into the comfortable silence, "Remus was right."

"About what?" Sirius asked. He was futilely scrubbing the wall with his mop, a losing battle against the orange goop.

"About us being good friends," James clarified.

"Yes he is a psychic one," Sirius grunted. He was now slapping the wall with his mop, which was doing nothing but soaking him. "He just hides his psychic-ness by being bookish and silent."

James looked over at Sirius and started to laugh. Sirius stopped slapping the wall to glare threateningly at him. Sadly, it wasn't very threatening because his wet hair kept flopping into his face, making him look like a deranged puppy. Sirius gave up and began to laugh with James, who had fallen over clutching his sides.

"I understand that my cleaning skills could improve, but I don't see what's so funny," Sirius grinned. It took James a few seconds to respond.

"You should see yourself," James wheezed, "who would imagine the usually silent and proper Sirius Black to be completely beaten and soaked by a rogue mop?" James fell into a new fit of giggles as Sirius glared reproachfully at the mop.

"I really don't like cleaning," Sirius said plaintively, trying not to ruin the effect by laughing. James jumped to his feet and caught his breath.

"Then why don't we do this the wizard way?" James asked. He pulled out his wand and pointed at the wall. "_Scourgify_." James grinned as a patch of the wall came away scorched, but clean.

"You're a lifesaver," Sirius whooped happily, slapping James on the back. He took out his own wand and pointed at another wall. "_Scourgify_." Soon the walls of the dungeon were slightly blackened and charred, but at least they were clean.

"Quick," hissed James, "grab your mop!"

Professor McGonagall walked in to find the two boys mopping up the last bits of goop from the corners of the room. She raised an eyebrow at the scorched walls but dismissed them.

Out in the hall, Sirius turned to James. "Thanks," he said.

"For what?" James asked confusedly. He hadn't done anything for Sirius. If anything, Sirius had helped James. He was quite sure detention would be a lot more fun from now on.

"For letting me laugh," Sirius said. James was more confused than ever.

"You let me laugh too," James said, "should I be thanking you?" Sirius smiled and shook his head.

"Never mind," Sirius grinned, "but that was a lot of fun today huh? I really liked how you turned Bella's hair into needles, very creative."

"Yeah, well I think the two kids you hexed will be crying about their looks for quite a while." James had a grin to match Sirius's now. "Not that they look any worse than usual. The boil-look might actually be an improvement."

"You know," James's grin had turned dangerous, "I think we need to teach that slimy haired git and his Slytherin friends a lesson. No one messes with Gryffindor and gets away with it."

"You mean that blob with a hooked nose you could fish with?" Sirius asked. "I think you're right. Although it is thanks to him that we're friends now." Sirius smiled at James.

"Maybe you're right," James's eyes had a mischievous glint, "we should give him a little present. What do you say?"

And the two boys entered the common room with identical, evil grins.

**Ooh, what are the boys going to do to Snape? To tell you the truth, I don't know yet. Sorry, but it may be a week or so before the next chapter comes out. I have finals this week and will be completely bogged down with studying. But reviews might help inspire me to write faster (like always :P).**


	4. New Friends and Pranks

**It's chapter four! Finals are over, school is over, and hopefully, I'll have time to write more now! This is actually very enjoyable to write. I love playing the part of the marauders; they're so much fun! Thank you all for your wonderful reviews and enjoy this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They all belong the wonderful goddess named J.K. Rowling. **

Breakfast the next morning was much louder than the day before. Sirius and James were laughing at the different things they could do to Snape while stuffing their faces with food.

"Hey," said James around a mouthful of toast, "maybe we could charm a knight into singing that Barney song while chasing that sniveling coward around the school." Sirius looked at him curiously.

"What's the bar-knee song?" asked Sirius. James began to laugh.

"I forgot that you wouldn't know it," James said, "It's this really stupid and annoying little kid's song about love. Here, I'll sing it for you." James proceeded to sing the "I love you, you love me" Barney song completely off tune and with a flair for the dramatic. To put it nicely, he sounded like a dying duck jumping on a froghorn. Gryffindor table exploded with laughter and applause for James' awful performance when he finished.

"Oh god," gasped Sirius. He was holding onto the table for dear life, trying desperately to stay on his chair. "We absolutely have to do that to him. I think he would be scarred for life." Words and balance failed him at this point and he fell over into a laughing heap on the floor.

"We just have to find that kid who made a knight chase one of the Slytherins and ask him to teach us his tricks," James said thoughtfully, "I'm pretty sure we could teach a knight how to sing that song." He then had to bend over and thump Sirius hard on the back because he had begun to choke.

"Oy, mate, that was me," Sirius said when he finished choking.

"You were the one who made a knight chase the Slytherin?" asked James excitedly, "Oh, this is going to be great! How'd you do it?" Sirius shook his head sadly.

"Don't mean to burst your bubble," Sirius sighed, "but it didn't actually chase him. I just pushed the knight over onto the kid and he began to scream and run madly." James began to snicker. "The knight's helmet fell off when it hit the floor and it rolled after the kid. The kid turned hysterical, claiming the knight had chased him all over school trying to kill him."

James was disappointed, but he couldn't help but laugh at the forlorn way Sirius told the tale.

"It's alright, mate," James said while patting Sirius on the back, "we'll think of something else." Then the bell rang and Sirius grabbed a last piece of toast as they ran off to class.

Throughout the rest of the day, Sirius and James paid absolutely no attention in class. After all, why would two such bright young students need to pay attention to the boring lectures their teachers gave them? Especially when ideas for revenge were so much more interesting, not to mention educational.

Peter listened raptly to everything they said. Remus on the other hand, eventually gave up trying to make them pay attention or shut up, and settled for ignoring them.

At dinner, James and Sirius had decided that they should stick to something simple for their first "official" prank. That meant something they could easily pull off, and to their disappointment, it also meant something slightly less exciting than they had originally hoped for.

"Maybe we could drop dung bombs into Snape's potion?" Sirius asked dejectedly.

"That's and idea," James sighed, "but I already did that. We should try something different. Like…I don't know…"

"So you were the reason that git's potion exploded?" Sirius asked gleefully. James nodded and Sirius began to laugh again. "Oh, his face was priceless. He's so concerned with his grades and to top it all off, he even got detention. I was sure he was going to die of humiliation." James and Sirius succumbed into another fit of sniggering.

"But we still don't know what to do this time," James said dejectedly once they had calmed themselves down.

"Why don't you just tie a firecracker to his seat or something?" Remus asked exasperatedly. He was obviously tired of their constant deliberating.

"Remus," exclaimed Sirius, "you're a genius!" He looked excitedly at James. "What do you think?"

"I think that's perfect!" James agreed enthusiastically, "We can do it in transfiguration, imagine what McGonagall will do." His eyes became unfocused and dreamy.

"Wait," Remus stuttered, "I didn't actually mean for you to do that. I just wanted you to be quiet. Y-you're not actually…" Remus stared at them in horror. No way. There was no way they were actually going to listen to his absurd lapse of judgment. But James and Sirius were off in their own world, imagining what McGonagall would do if Snape's chair blew up in the middle of class.

That night, Remus went to bed with a heavy heart while James and Sirius were still in rapports of ecstasy. They had found the perfect simple prank. Now they just had to wait for their next transfiguration class.

Unfortunately, they didn't have transfiguration again for two days. Remus spent those two days hoping and praying they would forget all about the prank, all in vain.

The two boys looked forward to transfiguration class with uncharacteristic anticipation. They had had the firecracker in James's bag, with a few extra in case something went wrong.

"Don't do this," Remus whispered urgently as they took their seats. James and Sirius cracked identical grins.

"Do what?" asked James innocently.

"Lighten up, Remus," Sirius added, "nothing will go wrong." Remus just sighed.

Professor McGonagall started the lesson and James and Sirius waited for the right moment. It finally came when McGonagall had the students try to change mirrors into panes of glass.

"Psst," Sirius jabbed James in the ribs, "give me a firecracker." James scowled and rubbed his side but handed Sirius a firecracker and some string.

Smirking, Sirius crawled under the tables over to Snape's chair. James watched as Sirius tied the firecracker to the leg of Snape's chair. At the same time, he tried to keep an eye on McGonagall.

With a small crackling noise, Sirius lit the firework. Unfortunately, Snape seemed to hear it because he turned to look behind him. James saw Sirius freeze and cursed under his breath.

"WOAH!" he yelled loudly. He waved his wand wildly and hoped the mirror would turn into something unusual. To his delight, it turned into a featherless green chicken.

Snape snapped his head over to look at him instead of down at Sirius and the now smoking firecracker. He sneered at the squawking chicken in front of James and raised an eyebrow at Sirius's empty seat before turning back to his own mirror.

James sighed in relief as Sirius scurried back over to their desk. However, the chicken had attracted Professor McGonagall's attention too. She walked briskly over to James.

"Oh shit," James whispered. Sirius was still on his way back to his seat and McGonagall was sure to notice he was missing.

McGonagall arrived at their desk and Sirius still wasn't in his seat. She waved her wand and turned the chicken back into a mirror and then stared suspiciously at James.

"Having trouble today, Mr. Potter?" she asked.

"Yeah," James grinned with what he hoped was an abashed expression, "sorry about the chic- er, the disturbance."

"And what about Mr. Black?" she asked. James swallowed nervously just as Sirius popped his head up from under the desk.

"Hello, Professor," he said with his most charming smile.

"What, may I ask, were you doing under the table?" she asked formidably. Sirius didn't bat an eyelash at her tone.

"Sorry," he said innocently, "you see, the chicken knocked my quill off the desk in it's excitement at being green. I was looking for it. Turns out that it fell under my bag." He held up a squashed looking quill.

Professor McGonagall looked like she was going to say something else when she was interrupted.

BANG!

The whole class turned to look at a very scorched looking Snape. The firecracker had exploded along with the chair, leaving poor Snape on the floor with a sparkling red firework above his head.

"What is this?" Professor McGonagall snarled with a fierce glare, "I expected better of you Mr. Snape!" She was absolutely furious. "Disrupting class like this-" she stopped to glare some more, unable to continue she was so enraged, "fifty points from Slytherin and detention tonight."

Severus stared at her in horror.

"But it wasn't me," he spluttered, "I didn't do anything." He suddenly had a malicious glint in his eye.

"It was Black," he said pointing at Sirius, "he wasn't in his seat earlier. He did this!" Professor McGonagall glared at him suspiciously.

"Is that so?" she asked Sirius. Sirius shook his head innocently.

"Check his bag!" yelled Snape angrily, "I'm sure he'll have more that he's planning to use later."

"Show me your bag," McGonagall said to Sirius. Sirius opened his bag and handed it to her. She quickly looked through it and turned back to Snape.

"There are no firecrackers in Mr. Black's bag," she said calmly to him, "detention is at six every night for the next week."

The bell rang and James and Sirius sprang out of the room before they gave themselves away by laughing their heads off. Remus and Peter came out soon after.

"That was brilliant," Peter squeaked happily.

"Thank you, thank you," Sirius said with a flourish and bow. James smacked him on the head.

"Excuse me," James said indignantly, "but I helped with that too." Sirius just stuck his tongue out and dodged James's next swipe at his head.

"You were almost caught," Remus said reprovingly, "What would you have done if there had been firecrackers in Sirius's bag?" Sirius and James both shrugged.

"I dunno," James said, "I was kinda worried she wouldn't believe I actually had trouble transfiguring because I can usually do it with no effort." Remus glared at James's cocky self assurance.

"I guess it's a good thing they were in Jamesie's bag then," Sirius said carelessly.

He was hit in the head again.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, "What was that for?" He rubbed his head gingerly.

"Do not," James said threateningly, "call me Jamesie." He glared at Sirius.

"Oh," Sirius grinned cheekily, "poor ickle Jamesie-boy doesn't like his name." He shook his head sadly. "What a shame."

James looked ready to explode. Then he suddenly calmed down and smiled sweetly at Sirius.

"Does little Siri-poo like his name?" James asked innocently. Sirius froze in mid skip to stare incredulously at James.

"What did you just call me?" Sirius asked slowly, as if he hadn't heard perfectly.

"I called you Siri-poo," James said as if Sirius were a five year old. "Is there something wrong?" He cocked his head to the side in fake worry as Sirius stayed frozen with one foot in the air.

"Well, Jamesie-boy," Sirius said dangerously, "there's nothing wrong with me, but there will be something wrong with you if you call me that again." James grimaced momentarily then recovered.

"Call you what?" James asked innocently, "Siri-poo?" Sirius twitched at the name.

"Jamie," Sirius gritted out, "you are pushing it." It was James's turn to freeze. "Is there something wrong?" Sirius imitated James's earlier tone and posture with a devilish glint in his eye.

"You're going to get it now," James growled as Sirius smirked at the fact that he now had the upper hand. Remus who had watched the whole exchange decided it was time to step in.

"Guys," Remus said tentatively, "um, shouldn't you just compromise? This is sort of a stupid argument." Both boys turned to glare at him. "Or maybe you could just fight it out on the way to dinner?"

James and Sirius grinned in anticipation at the mention of dinner. Shaking his head, Remus stepped between them and walked toward the Great Hall.

"Well Siri-poo," James started, "do you think we could call it a truce?"

"I think we might just have to, Jamesie," Sirius replied, "at least until after dinner." Both boys shook hands while placing their free hand over their heart.

"We solemnly swear to call it a truce until after dinner," they said gravely.

"Wow!" exclaimed Peter, "you said that in unison! Can you read each others minds or something?" He looked at them in amazement.

"My dear Petey," Sirius said, "that is a secret you shall never know."

"Oh come on, you drama queens," Remus groaned, "let's go get dinner before it gets cold."

"Yes, sir!" exclaimed James with a salute.

"We're right behind you," added Sirius.

"Sir Remie-kins!" both boys shouted together. Then they broke down in laughter at the horrified expression on Remus's face.

"Remus," Peter said timidly, "are you okay? You look like you're choking on a moldy sock."

"That's exactly how I feel," Remus muttered as he managed to move again. He walked to the Great Hall without saying a word, and the other three boys followed a safe distance behind.

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The next weeks passed in colorful blur and before the four boys realized it, the holiday season was upon them.

"Would you look at this," James exclaimed one snowy Sunday morning, "there's only one more week before Christmas break." Peter looked at him blankly.

"We've been is school for almost four months now," Remus said happily. Sirius groaned and threw himself over his bed. He was really dreading the holidays; he would now have to go home and stay with his parents for two whole weeks.

"I hate the holidays," Sirius scowled, "too many too damn happy people everywhere. It's sickening." He shoved his face in his pillow, and Remus looked at him in worry.

James sensed Sirius's stormy mood and guessed its source. He flopped down next to Sirius and grabbed his limp hand.

"Sirius, my dear," James said theatrically and held Sirius's hand to his chest, "if I thought I could win your heart, I would ask for your hand in marriage-"

"You already took my hand without my heart," Sirius interrupted darkly, wrenching away his hand. James continued as if Sirius hadn't said a word.

"But I know nothing but heartbreak and woe lie down that path." James tried to look tragic, but his face just looked lopsided.

"That's because you're an overstuffed prat," Sirius grumbled. But the corners of his mouth were twitching. James ignored him again, but his eyes were sparkling now.

"So, as I give up my quest for you heart," James threw a hand over his forehead dramatically, "I have decided on a new quest." He smirked as Sirius looked at him curiously. "There's one week before we're gone, mate. One long week left for us to use as we wish."

"One week left for us to leave a mark," Sirius whooped.

"Exactly!" James grinned, "and that means-"

"Why do I get a bad feeling about this?" Remus moaned despairingly.

"that we should pull our biggest, best pranks yet!" Sirius finished.

"Yes!" James and Sirius grinned and hi-fived each other.

"They did it again," Peter whispered to Remus, "how do they finish each other's sentences?"

"They're too much alike for anyone's good," Remus mumbled as James and Sirius turned to their two friends.

"You guys are going to help us with this prank," Sirius stated with assurance. Peter quickly agreed but Remus shook his head vehemently.

"If you want to get yourselves in trouble that's fine," Remus said, "but I would like to be able to stay in school if you don't mind." James and Sirius both turned on the puppy dog eyes as Remus backed into a corner, still shaking his head.

"Please, Remus," James said beseechingly, "we need you to help." His brown eyes were large and melty, rather like a bar of chocolate that had been left too long in the sun.

"No you don't," Remus said, trying not to give in, "you can do it perfectly fine without me so why do I need to be a part of this?"

"But Remus, you're our friend," Sirius replied. He took Remus's hand and got down on one knee, looking up at Remus with swirling silver orbs.

"Yeah," added James, "it won't be the same without you." Peter nodded his assent to the boys' statements.

Remus seemed to freeze. He looked at James, Sirius, and Peter, and then down at the floor. When he finally looked up again, his eyes were very bright.

"Okay," he said, voice wavering slightly, "I'll help you guys." The three boys all grinned happily. Sirius clapped Remus on the back.

"Good man," Sirius said smugly.

"Just one thing," Remus interjected. "I can't help tonight." James and Sirius looked at him curiously, but nodded.

"Alright," James said, "we have one week to come up with a super duper never before seen prank. Let's get to work!"

**Yep, that's it! Please review and tell me what you think! Thanks for reading.**


	5. Operation Holiday Spirit

**Chapter five is here! Sorry it took a little longer to get this one up, but it's also quite a bit longer than any of the other chapters. So hopefully the length makes up for the lateness. Also, thank you all for your wonderful reviews! Reviews are really what keep me writing, so I really appreciate all of your support. Enjoy the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything Harry Potter; wish I did, but I don't.**

Sirius ran a hand through his shaggy hair and sighed for the five hundred and seventy-eighth time. He sighed again when he realized how pathetic it was that he was counting his sighs. Five-hundred and seventy-nine, he thought dully.

With a shake of his head, he glanced over at James, who had drool dripping as he snored lightly with his head on an open book. Peter was faithfully holding a book, but Sirius could see his head nodding. He picked up the book he had been futilely trying to stare at and dropped it loudly into the silence of the common room.

"Eggs!" James yelped as he snapped his head up from the book. "The eggs ate my homework!" He suddenly realized where he was and his face turned an unusual shade of red.

Sirius wagged his eyebrows and cracked a grin. James wiped his mouth and fixed his askew glasses, pointedly ignoring Sirius. Peter simply gawked uncertainly at them.

"Really now," Sirius grinned, "That's almost as good as 'I didn't punch him, he just ran into my outstretched fist.'" James groaned and contemplated throwing the book at him and settled for glaring instead.

"I can't do this anymore," Sirius moaned, grin disappearing as he looked at the book. "I give up. I have been defeated by the book. I admit defeat. Just don't make me read this anymore." He poked at his book as if it were about to attack him.

James grunted his agreement. "This isn't working. I know Remus said there are some great ideas in here, but all I've learned is that you can make great chocolate if you spend three years stirring it." He ran his hands through his hair, making it stand on end.

"I like chocolate," Peter added unhelpfully.

"Maybe it was all part of his evil plan to stop us from terrorizing the entire school?" suggested Sirius. His face began to light up. "You know, he was against this from the start. Maybe he still is and is sabotaging our efforts! He's trying to kill us with boredom to save the school from us!"

"If that's the case," James sighed, "then he's more devious than we thought. I'll have to congratulate him when he gets back." He slouched further down into his seat. "His plan of murder by book is working pretty well."

James's face suddenly turned thoughtful. Sirius looked at him inquisitively and tapped his fingers on the evil book impatiently. He desperately hoped James had thought of something that didn't include murder by book.

After a few minutes, more like seconds really, Sirius couldn't wait any longer.

"James?" he asked, "Did you think of something?" James continued to stare into space. "James? Hello? Jamesie?" James finally looked up, seeming not to notice the dreaded nickname.

"I've got it!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Murderous books and evil chocolate. Remus is a geniou – hey!" He stopped talking to glare at Sirius. "Did you just call me Jamesie again?" But it was Sirius's turn to not listen.

"Books…chocolate…evil.." he muttered under his breath. His eyes were slightly unfocused.

"Hello? Siri?" James snapped his fingers in front of Sirius's oblivious nose. "Earth to Siri-poo, this is Commander James. Do you read me?" Sirius spun around to grin at James.

"That's it!" he hooted. "Evil chocola – wait!" He turned on James with a strangely familiar glare. Peter wondered at their ability to even make similar facial expressions.

"You, you just – " Sirius spluttered. James just grinned innocently.

"Exactly," James said, ignoring Sirius's glare. "Remus is bloody brilliant! I knew there was a mischief maker under that studious façade." Sirius grinned too.

"Too true, mate," Sirius said, "too true. We'll have to thank him tomorrow. I know he'll be proud of our prowess with his horrible, death-bringing books." He used a pencil to gingerly push the book away from him. "Bad book," he muttered, "no eating Sirius today!" Peter stared at him as if questioning his sanity.

James looked suspiciously at the book. "I know I should be thankful, but I can't bring myself to thank the book," he said. "I'd really rather burn it." Sirius looked up enthusiastically. "But that would be truly unfair since it inspired our idea."

They looked longingly between the book and the fire. Sirius could feel his fingers itching to chuck the book into the flames and hear the sound of its defeat.

"Come on," James said, turning regally from the temptation of burning books. He walked toward the portrait hole, pulling Sirius away from the books along his way.

"Time to work our magic," Sirius smirked, and they walked out of the common room with Peter scrambling after them, completely bewildered at their strange exchange.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Remus stared in horror. The dorm room – their dorm room – was full of a weird green smoke. A cauldron, the source of the smoke, was bubbling merrily over a small fire in the middle of the room.

"You did WHAT?" Remus choked. He could feel his throat constricting and his heart palpitating. He wished he had stayed safely downstairs in the common room with Peter.

"Well, you see," began James, "we went to the library –"

"The _library,_" emphasized Sirius, "do you know how desperate we were?"

"And nicked this great book of potions," finished James. "Very nifty this." He patted the book fondly. "Has some wicked potions in here. Most of them have rare ingredients though, so we had to stick to something simple."

Remus opened and closed his mouth a few times. James stirred the potion carelessly as Sirius added some orange powder. The smoke turned briefly orange and some bubbles popped dangerously.

"Hold on a minute," Remus finally spluttered, "you nicked the book. So that means you _stole_ it. You stole a book from the school library." He gaped at them, feeling like his tired body was about to collapse.

"We think of it as indefinitely borrowing." Sirius gave him a lopsided grin.

"But, but why?" moaned Remus, sinking to the floor. He nearly upset the mountain of chocolate on his bed.

"It was on its way to be returned to the restricted section," James shrugged. "So we intercepted it." If possible, Remus looked even more horrified.

"You alright?" Sirius asked, a touch of real concern in his voice. "You're looking a bit pale."

"I'm just a bit tired," Remus responded, "no thanks to you." He rolled his eyes sarcastically, silently glad that their stupid antics kept their minds off him.

"No worries mate," Sirius said in mock consolation, clapping Remus on the shoulder, "you should be proud. After all, you were our inspiration." Remus looked as if he had just been stabbed.

"Yeah," James said, "we realized you were trying to kill us with boredom."

"With books on how to make chocolate," added Sirius.

"So we decided to use your idea!" James exclaimed.

"You're really quite clever," Sirius said thoughtfully, "you should speak up more." He paused. "Although on second thought, you did try to kill us by book."

"Ugh," James muttered with feeling, "those evil, evil books." Sirius nodded in agreement.

"We really should have burned them, James," Sirius said darkly. "It would be a favor to the world." Remus's head snapped up at this.

"Y-you were going to burn my books?" he asked slightly hysterically.

"The books tried to kill us," Sirius moaned. "How could we stand by and let something so evil live on to torment others?"

"The books are very lucky that Sirius and I are such wonderful, merciful men," James stated proudly. Remus just shook his head wordlessly.

"Those weren't even the books I recommended," Remus said weakly. "I told you to find the books on the right side of my bed. There are some books of simple spells we could use. But no, you had to go to the left side of my bed, being directionally challenged as you are, and find the books I read for fun."

"You read those," James began and Sirius finished, "for fun?" They looked equally horrified. "You have a book on how to make four hundred year old chocolate, and you read it for fun?" Remus looked uncomfortable now. He didn't want his new friends to think he was strange.

"Well, erm," Remus squirmed, "it's a history book and it happens to include some history of chocolate. The goblins live for a long time and make wonderful chocolate, you see." Remus's explanation sounded lame even to him.

"You're a strange boy," James finally concluded. But he pat Remus on the shoulder with a grin.

"But that's why we like you!" added Sirius. "Since you seem to like the history of chocolate, why don't you enjoy some real chocolate?" He dropped a bar of chocolate from the bed into Remus's lap.

Remus looked at the bar and then up at the two boys hesitantly.

"Do you mind if I take some dark chocolate instead?" he asked. Sirius laughed. His laugh was very much like a bark, Remus mused. Rough, but warm and friendly at the same time.

"Knock yourself out," Sirius smiled. He tossed a bar of dark chocolate at Remus.

"Hey, look at this," James interrupted. He was standing by the right side of Remus's bed, flipping through one of the books Remus had originally recommended. "These are really good! Here's one for boils, but you already did that…" He drifted off as he continued flipping.

"It would be good to have some other pranks," Sirius said as he looked over James's shoulder. "The potion will take another three days to be finished, so we should have pranks to fill the time up till then."

"Um, guys?" Remus looked uncertainly at the cauldron. James and Sirius ignored him.

"LOOK OUT!" Remus yelped, as the cauldron hissed ferociously and bubbled over. Sirius scrambled madly to stop the overflow, which had caused the fire to spit and sizzle. He then worked frantically to ensure that the flame didn't go out from the potion. The smoke was worse than before and all three boys were soon coughing.

"This is it!" exclaimed James excitedly. He waved the book around and jumped aside as sparks from the fire nearly singed him. Shoving the book into Sirius's face, he waited eagerly.

"Brilliant!" nodded Sirius jubilantly. As he and James examined the charm, the potion began to bubble over again. James dropped the book and both boys worked fervidly to fix the problem.

Remus groaned and buried his head in his hands. This was going to be a long week.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Alright mates," James whispered conspiratorially, "We are now going to commence with stage one of Operation Holiday Spirit!" He pumped his fist.

"Why are we whispering?" asked Remus. He looked dubiously around their dorm room, which was empty except for the four of them. "Will our voices cause the cauldron of doom to explode again?" Peter gave a whimper.

"No, no," grumbled James, "whispering just makes this seem more like an exciting, top secret operation." He and Sirius shared grins.

"Okay, so we have the Great Hall rigged. When the Slytherins walk in, we can stop the levitating charm and have a good laugh."

"Why do we have to resort to something so elementary?" whined Sirius. "Why can't we use the chocolate?"

"Because, er," James paused uncertainly. "Why aren't we using the more interesting stuff, Remus?"

"Because," Remus sighed, "we have four days before leaving and we want to use the best prank last. Also, the cauldron of doom isn't done destroying the room or my peace of mind, so we can't use it yet."

"Yeah, that's why," James agreed as if he had thought of that himself.

"Oh," Sirius nodded, "that makes sense." Remus rubbed his temples. He was sure they'd had a conversation exactly like this only ten minutes ago.

"Alright, let's go to breakfast," James said getting up.

They took their seats and began to heap their plates with an amount of food only growing boys could even consider eating. But even the delectable food couldn't hold their attention today.

"Where are they?" complained Sirius around a mouthful of ham. "The Slytherins," he clarified when Remus gave him a look.

"It's only been two minutes," Remus said, "have some patience." He pat Sirius sympathetically on the back. "And you too, James."

"I don't think they have any patience," Peter chimed, and Remus had to agree. Sirius and James were fidgeting horribly, alternately stuffing their faces and glancing at the doors.

"They're here!" James exclaimed in a muffled whisper. The three boys whipped their heads around to stare at the doorway. The Slytherins were coming in for breakfast, totally unaware of their danger.

"Stop looking so suspicious," hissed Remus. Reluctantly, James and Sirius turned around. Peter couldn't stop himself from sneaking another peek.

"Here goes," muttered Sirius. He pulled out his wand under the table and whispered, "_Finis._" The other three boys did the same, each pointing to a different position around the doors.

_**CRASH!**_

The entire Great Hall jumped three feet in the air as an avalanche of books fell on top of the unsuspecting Slytherins. Screams and sounds of tumbling books and crushed people filled the room.

James had his hand stuffed in his mouth to keep from laughing out loud. He was pounding on Sirius's back as it seemed Sirius had choked on his ham while sniggering. Peter sported a huge grin and a corner of Remus's mouth was twitching suspiciously.

"Would you look at that," James said, shaking with the effort of holding in his laughter, "it seems those murderous books worked out alright." Then he broke into uncontrollable whooping along with the rest of the Great Hall.

A familiar blonde head poked out from beneath a particularly heavy looking book. Lucious Malfoy's normally impeccable hair was sticking up in odd points, making him look like a bleached porcupine, and he sported a rapidly growing bump on his head.

Beside him, Snape's greasy hair could be seen twitching miserably as he flailed wildly in a vain effort to free himself from the Attack of the Books. Other Slytherins were extracting themselves from the mess, faces burning with humiliation.

"Thanks for the spell, Remy," Sirius gasped after he stopped choking, "This was much better than I expected." Remus smiled and continued to plow through his breakfast.

The next morning, everyone was extraordinarily careful upon entering the Great Hall. The four boys snickered as Slytherins sidled in, fearfully checking above their heads every few seconds.

Halfway through breakfast, Sirius picked up a plate and dropped it on the floor. James and Sirius broke into hysterical laughter as several people screamed and many jumped out of their seats. One of the Slytherins actually fell to the floor in fright and had to be coaxed out from under the table by a professor.

"Aren't you taking this a little far?" Remus asked with a frown. Sirius sneered and threw him a dark glare. He seemed to take vicious joy in the Slytherins' misery. Remus decided to drop the subject for the moment.

"Time for stage two," James interjected into the silence. Sirius grinned again, his eyes lightening back to warm gray.

Remus valiantly tried, and failed, to pay attention in morning classes. It was impossible to concentrate with Sirius and James whispering and plotting next to him, especially when they poked him for comments and suggestions every three minutes. He eventually gave it up as a lost cause after Sirius poked him and his hand jerked, drawing a line across all of his neat, History of Magic notes.

As soon as class was over, everyone heaved a sigh of relief and rushed to lunch. Sirius and James sauntered through the halls, supremely sure of themselves. Peter followed, happy to be a part of the group, and Remus chewed his lip worriedly.

Remus knew they were up to something, but he hadn't been completely in on this prank. In fact, he didn't know how they could have set it up already when he had been with them the entire morning.

They entered the Hall and took their customary seats. Remus noted the new decorations surrounding the room. Mistletoe hung from the ceiling, was wrapped around the chairs, and added cheer to the tables. There was even some mistletoe on a few of the seats. Red bows hung on the back of some chairs and tinsel was strewn around the floor.

Chattering filled the Hall as people began to dig into their food and relax. Remus watched nervously as James and Sirius took out their wands and shared a smirk.

Concentrating on their task, James and Sirius furtively waved their wands at Slytherin's table. When they finished, they returned to eating the wonderful meal, hiding grins by stuffing their mouths.

A commotion seemed to be starting at the Slytherin table. Several students yelped as they reached for more food. As others turned to look at them, there was a mad scraping of chairs, and many jumped to their feet howling.

James had to spit his turkey out to keep from choking as Snape jumped up yelping and holding his rear end. Sirius pounded on the table in silent hysterics. The rest of the Houses laughed at the antics of the Slytherins.

"You didn't," Remus said slowly, the truth dawning on him.

"Oh, we definitely did," James sniggered. Sirius flashed a thumbs-up.

Remus looked carefully at the mistletoe at the Slytherins' table; the mistletoe that wasn't really there for decoration. Shiny silver met his eyes instead of deep green.

"You placed the mistletoe," Remus said, "and then you transfigured it into needles." James and Sirius just grinned like maniacs. "But when?"

"You know that awfully long break we took to go to the loo?" Sirius asked.

"Well," added James, "we didn't go, obviously, but not because we just wanted to waste time."

"Although we were being bloody bored to death by old Binns," Sirius remarked. "It was worse than your goblin chocolate history book." Remus scowled.

"We were actually here decorating with our precious mistletoe!" finished James.

"And then we spiked it," grinned Sirius. "Haha, get it?" They looked terribly smug about their own cleverness.

"You two are brilliant," squeaked Peter. He looked awestruck by the mischief of James and Sirius, who gave bows of acknowledgment.

"So those Slytherins holding their – " Remus began.

"Yep," Sirius sniggered, "they have needles stuck in their arses." Remus had to agree that this was a rather ingenious prank.

By the next morning, the Slytherins were completely on edge. Every loud noise or strange looking object caused them to twitch. Sirius didn't waste any chances to torment them further.

Dung bombs were dropped as several classes finished, causing chaos in the halls. A few knights were knocked over as students passed by, convincing a poor little boy that the knights of Hogwarts were out to get him. Strange mishaps kept occurring.

Remus knew Sirius was behind all of theses little pranks and that he had talked James into helping him. He wasn't quite sure why Sirius was so intent on causing misery, but the memory of Sirius's dark eyes kept him quiet.

That evening, their stage three of Operation Holiday Spirit was put into action.

"Righteo, mates," James smirked as they left their last class, "we fixed this one up after lunch, so now we just watch and enjoy."

"But we basically did this already," Sirius complained, "they might not fall for it again."

"Never underestimate the stupidity of Slytherins," James said wisely. Remus wanted to smack him in all his smugness.

And then screams erupted from the school entrance.

"See?" James grinned. Peter's eyes glowed with hero worship.

They trotted over to the entrance along with what seemed like the entire school. When they arrived, they found some rather frightening snow monsters stumbling around in circles, sending some of the students into a panic. Some arms and legs were sticking out of the mound of snow behind the monsters.

Two of the monsters collided and fell in a heap on the floor. As the snow melted and was shaken off, some familiar faces appeared. Everyone laughed as the monsters on floor melted into the mortified figures of Snape on top of Lucious.

Snape jumped to his feet, almost steaming as his red face melted the icy snow. Other students were slowly struggling their way out of the snow trap.

"I can't believe they fell for it again," Sirius chortled, "this was exactly the same as the books, except with snow."

"You'd think they would learn," Remus said amusedly.

"How did you know the Slytherins had Herbology outside?" Peter asked amazedly.

"Observance, dear Petey," James said superiorly, "and of course, our pure genius." He and Sirius smirked.

"More like freaky stalking," Remus muttered.

"You!" a voice shouted suddenly. The boys whipped around to look at furious Snape pointing a shaking finger at them. "It was you."

"Whatever are you going on about?" James asked with twinkling eyes. He cocked his head with falsely innocent curiosity.

"You're the ones behind all these catastrophes," Snape accused vehemently. "I don't know how I missed it before."

"So what if we are?" Sirius sneered coldly. His fists were clenched and his eyes slit dangerously.

"Filthy blood-traitors," Snape hissed, glaring straight at Sirius, "I wonder what your mother thinks."

With a roar, Sirius launched himself at Snape. Snape never had a chance. Before anyone could react, he was thrown to the floor with Sirius beating his face in.

"Sirius!" James yelled, trying to pull Sirius off Snape. "Not now!"

"Stay out of this," Sirius growled, violently shoving James off of him and into a wall. James rebounded right back, and tackled Sirius off of Snape. With Remus's help, Sirius was restrained, though his eyes were nearly black with hate and he struggled against their grip.

"What's this commotion?" rang a voice of authority. James swore under his breath. Now was not a good time to get detention. He nearly laughed in relief when he saw that it was only the air-headed Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

"Nothing, Professor," James said meekly, "we were just momentarily overcome with holiday spirits." He grinned at her like a little boy caught stealing candy.

Snape tried to say something, but James discreetly hexed him behind his back. Professor Addley pushed her thick glasses up her nose and peered at him with a distracted smile, not noticing Snape's muffled exclamations.

"Yes dear," she said, "the holidays are quite exciting, are they not? Well, let's off to dinner." James smiled widely and nodded his assent.

The entrance slowly cleared as students pushed their way to the Great Hall, talking happily about the "snow monsters." James stayed right where he was, holding Sirius in place too. Remus and Peter stayed with them.

"What the bloody hell was that all about?" James asked angrily when the entrance was empty aside from the four of them. Sirius glared mutinously at him.

"Snape's a bloody prat," Sirius scowled. He tried to move away from James.

"True," James answered, "but now is not the time to get detention. You should know that." James looked exasperated and Sirius looked enraged.

"Don't go lecturing me," Sirius said, his lip curling, "you don't know anything." He brushed off James's hold and stalked into the Great Hall. James stood staring for a few seconds.

"James?" Remus said tentatively. James looked at him and smiled half-heartedly.

"Let's go." They walked to dinner, which was the quietest meal they'd had in a long time. Peter's eyes darted nervously between Sirius and James, who were carefully avoiding each other. The atmosphere was so thick that Remus wanted to cut the proverbial silence.

Finally, the meal was over and they returned to the common room. Sirius fell into the chair closest to the fire and stared blankly at the dancing flames. James took the chair farthest from the fire and tried to read a book, but kept shooting glances at Sirius.

Peter looked uncertainly from Sirius to James and decided to take a seat near James. Remus couldn't take the tense silence anymore and went to their dorm room.

"Hey, mates," Remus's voice traveled down the stairwell a few minutes later. "I think the cauldron of doom is done working its mischief, at least for now." He poked his head out of the room to see if anyone was coming.

James dropped his book, which had been upside down, and sprinted up the stairs. Peter looked thankful for the change and followed James. Remus stayed at the top of the stairs and stared at Sirius's hunched back.

When Sirius didn't move, Remus walked down and took the seat next to him. Sirius didn't acknowledge him and continued to stare into the fire. Remus looked at Sirius, really looked for the first time, and saw the pain in the set of his mouth and the defeat in slump of his shoulders.

"You know," Remus said after a moment, "he's not mad at you." Sirius glanced up at him and then down at his hands.

"I know," he muttered, "and that makes it even worse. I can't be mad at him." Remus smiled softly as Sirius looked at him with sad eyes. "But he might be disappointed."

"I don't think so," Remus said gently. "Come on up. It will be better to talk to him than to beat yourself down here." He rose and waited expectantly for Sirius. Sirius finally got up and followed him reluctantly up the stairs.

"Hullo," James grinned a little awkwardly as Remus and Sirius walked in, "looks like the potion's finished." The cauldron was shooting tiny gold sparks and the surface was a marbled cherry color.

"Nice," Sirius smiled, "just in time." He walked slightly timidly over to James's side.

"Want to try it out?" James smirked, giving Sirius a playful punch in the shoulder. Sirius mock-scowled and shoved James back, eyes sparkling again.

"Alright, alright," Remus chided, "let's finish this before the cauldron of doom decides to attack me again." Sirius and James made faces but began to work. Remus was just glad that they were talking again.

The next morning, Sirius groaned as sunlight shone though the curtains, and he buried his head under his pillow. He was exhausted from their late night and had almost fallen asleep again when one side of his bed sank dangerously low.

"Rise and shine, my beauty!" sang a familiar voice. Sirius swatted wildly at the voice and buried his head deeper.

"Now, now," grinned the same, annoyingly cheerful voice, "we have to be up bright and early today!" The covers were thrown off Sirius's prone body and he shivered as cold air hit him.

"Today's the day," the voice continued excitedly, "the day before Christmas break begins, the day with no classes, the day of our great prank that will put us down in Hogwarts history!"

He could hear footsteps leave his bed and the creaking of someone jumping onto the other two beds. The sound of groans and sheets being tossed to the floor told him that Peter and Remus had received the same fate as him.

It was no use trying to sleep with James cheerfully babbling. He traveled from bed to bed, systematically poking and bothering until all four boys were up.

"You," Sirius mumbled accusingly, "are one of those bloody cheerful people I can't stand. There is no reason to be so bloody happy." But there was no force behind his words as he peered groggily at an enthusiastic James.

"We're getting up," Remus said to preempt another round of poking from James. He got to his feet and trudged to the bathroom. Peter sat blinking for a few more minutes before stumbling after Remus.

Sirius contemplated falling back into bed, but a glance at James told him that it would be a futile effort. He tumbled out of bed, hit his head, and made it to the bathroom with James whistling behind him.

After washing up, Sirius felt like a person again – a tired person, but a person nonetheless. He scowled at James who was still irritatingly perky.

"How can you be so chipper?" Sirius asked exasperatedly.

"How can you not be?" James retorted as he skipped down the stairs. "Now come on, we don't want to miss a moment of breakfast today!" Sirius had to agree so he walked a little more quickly down the stairs.

James was waiting impatiently at the foot of the stairs and he grabbed Sirius's sleeve when he reached the bottom. He dragged Sirius along until Sirius pulled away and walked at a more acceptable pace. Remus and Peter ran to catch up.

They were among the first students at breakfast. James spun into a seat, fidgeting in anticipation, while the other three boys fell exhaustedly into theirs.

"Would you look at that," James smirked, "there's chocolate for breakfast." Sirius snickered and popped a piece into his mouth.

James began to wolf down his food, glancing every few minutes at the doorway and almost choking several times. Sirius piled his plate, but was eating with tired resignation. Peter watched James eat with appreciation. Remus had to admit that James ate an impressive amount in very little time.

Students slowly filtered in with varying amounts of holiday cheer. Finally, the Slytherins arrived and all four boys perked up, involuntarily straightening in their seats.

"Here we go," Sirius murmured in anticipation. The boys tried to watch discreetly so as not to give themselves completely away.

For an agonizingly long moment, nothing happened. Several Slytherins ate some chocolate. A few others began to fill their plates. Nothing out of the ordinary occurred.

Then, Lucious stood up so suddenly that his chair was knocked backwards. Everyone turned to look at him, but he didn't seem to notice.

"_I'm bringing sexy back_ –" Lucious sang, sounding eerily like a girl. Several people's jaws dropped nearly to the floor. Lucious began to dance, unaware that he looked a beached jellyfish with his torso squirming and his arms flying everywhere.

"H-how does he even know that song?" James asked as he gasped for breath. He didn't wait for an answer and he was laughing too hard to listen anyway.

"Maybe the cauldron of doom was worth it," Remus mused aloud, smile stretching his face. This was priceless.

"And they'll never guess why it happened," Sirius added, eyes never leaving Lucious, who was embarrassing himself spectacularly.

"Because we brilliantly mixed the potion in with the chocolate!" James exclaimed, keeping his voice low enough that no one else heard. "And we only put special chocolate on the Slytherin table."

"I wonder who else ate chocolate," Remus chortled, enjoying himself immensely.

Lucious quickly gathered an audience and many were enjoying the fantastically horrendous show. It only got better when Snape shot to his feet, knocking his chair over too.

"_I like big butts and I cannot lie_ –" Snape began. He jumped up and began to dance like a puppet with broken strings. Sirius's eyes widened in delighted shock.

"Why is he thinking of that song?" Sirius snorted, eyes beginning to water from laughter.

"I think I truly _love_ this potion," James snickered. "It's supposed to make them sing, but I didn't know it would make them sing _these_ songs." He had to hold onto the table to keep from falling into a laughing lump on the floor.

The Great Hall was roaring hysterically now. Even the teachers seemed to be enjoying the morning entertainment, though they tried desperately to hide their amusement behind shaking hands.

"_My hump, my hump, my lovely lady lumps_ –" Bellatrix joined the show. Her dancing was plain disturbing. James and Sirius stared at each other, tears streaming down their red faces.

"Bloody hell!" they exclaimed in unison. They slumped over and let hysterical laughter take over. Remus couldn't help himself; he gave in and laughed along with everyone else, not caring that he let his restraint go. Even Slytherins were laughing.

The three of them were in the middle of the Great Hall, where everyone had a clear view of them. Their singing was completely off tune and almost made people wince. The dancing was absolutely hilarious and terrible.

After several minutes, Lucious finally stopped singing and dancing, or rather, wailing and flopping. He looked confusedly at all the laughing and pointing people. Then he turned and saw Snape and Bellatrix, and understanding dawned on his face, which flushed fluorescent red.

Slowly, the potion wore off Snape and Bellatrix too. Snape flushed much like Lucious had and looked like he wanted to disappear. Bellatrix looked ready to kill someone, but too many people were laughing for her to choose just one.

"Professor," Bellatrix shrieked at Dumbledore, "you have to do something! Someone was controlling us. That's breaking all school rules! And I'll wager that they're the same ones that have been causing problems all week!" Her face was flaming and spit flew as she yelled.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled with amusement and the students still hadn't stopped laughing. But he stood up nonetheless and the hall fell silent aside from the occasional chortle.

"Well," Dumbledore began gravely, "it seems we have some marauders in our midst." He stopped and James could have sworn he looked straight at them.

"However," Dumbledore continued, "as I have no evidence pointing to anyone, I can do nothing at the moment." Bellatrix hissed in anger and Dumbledore held up his hand in warning. "If anyone has proof as to whom the culprit is, please feel free to share with me."

Remus felt panic rising in his throat. Though they hadn't told anyone explicitly that they were the masterminds behind the pranks, there were quite a few people who suspected them. And there was plenty of evidence in their dorm. Then he remembered that James was ridiculously popular amongst just about everyone, and he knew nobody who could get evidence would rat them out.

"It's my traitor cousin and his mudblood loving friends!" exclaimed Bellatrix, pointing furiously at Sirius.

"At least I have friends," Sirius sneered into the uncomfortable silence that followed Bellatrix's words. Dumbledore stopped Sirius with a glance and turned to Bellatrix.

"As I have no proof," Dumbledore said calmly, "I cannot convict Mr. Black and his friends. I do, however, have a problem with the word _mudblood_. You'll be serving detention with Professor Slughorn when we return from Christmas holidays."

Bellatrix opened and closed her mouth like a fish, completely shocked and enraged. Dumbledore gave her a sympathetic smile and turned back to the rest of the Hall.

"And now," Dumbledore said, "let's finish our delicious meal and then go pack for the holidays." He sat down and dug into the food remaining on his plate.

Everyone soon followed his example and the Hall returned to normal. There was a lot of giggling and many side glances at the Slytherin table, but nothing too out of the ordinary.

But for Sirius, it seemed like everything was different. Even after James had accepted him unconditionally, others had looked at him with suspicion. Everyone loved James but distrusted Sirius, and though he understood why, it had still hurt.

But suddenly, things seemed different. The laughter and jokes at the table seemed to include him fully, not just as an extension of James. Other people were actually talking to him.

"Nice job," a sixth year named Gideon Prewett laughed, giving him a pat on the back. "You've got quite a witch of a cousin, eh?"

"We know you, James, Remus, and that other kid were the ones behind the pranks," Gideon's twin brother Fabian grinned, misinterpreting Sirius's look of shock. "Very creative. How'd you get them to sing like that?"

James popped over and saved Sirius from sitting silently in shock and looking like an idiot.

"It's a secret," James said mischievously, pinching Sirius to get his head working again. "We'll only share if you have something to give in return." He winked playfully.

"Well," Gideon said thoughtfully, "as you're first years –"

"And you can't get to Hogsmeade," Fabian continued.

"We could supply you from Zonko's in exchange," Gideon finished. James looked like Christmas had come early, and it was Sirius's turn to save James from making a fool of himself.

"That sounds like a fair trade," Sirius said with a huge smile. He and Gideon shook hands, sealing their deal. James and Fabian followed suit and shook hands as well. They agreed to exchange the items after the first Hogsmeade trip after Christmas.

Glowing with success, the boys traipsed back to the common room after breakfast. Socks and shirts were thrown around in a frenzy of packing as it seemed clothing ended up in weird places after months of living without parents.

"I've been thinking," James said as Remus threw a pair of underwear at him with a grimace.

"Really?" asked Sirius with a smirk, "That's new." James scowled and threw a pair of shorts at him.

"I'm a good thinker," James said with a hurt expression. Sirius threw a dirty sock at him from under the bed.

"You were thinking what?" Remus asked to get James back on track.

"Oh, right," James said, "marauders." Remus looked at him blankly and Peter yelped a Sirius threw a shoe at him. "Marauders," James repeated.

"Hey, I like that," Sirius said, turning to James. "Marauders." Remus finally understood their disjointed thinking.

"Marauders?" he asked doubtfully. "Doesn't that sound a little…evil?" James threw a sweater at him.

"But my dear Remi-poo," Sirius said, "we are the good kind of evil. We use evil to fight evil." He gestured grandly, and Remus rolled his eyes.

"That makes absolutely no sense," Remus told Sirius. Sirius waved off his statement as if it meant nothing. James grinned wickedly.

"We are the Marauders."

**Please review and let me know what you think! **


	6. Letters and a Fight

**Chapter 6! I'm so sorry that it took so long for me to finish this. I was gone at camp for two weeks and just recently returned. And tonight, ****Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows**** comes out!!!!!!!!! I am so, amazingly excited! But I'm a little sad too. Harry Potter is going to be over now. But that's what fanfiction is for! Let me know what you guys think of the book once you read it! So sit back and enjoy the chapter! And don't forget to review…xD**

Sirius looked out the window of the Hogwarts Express, trying to ignore the sinking in his stomach. Snow was falling lightly from the sky and creating a beautiful postcard out of the disappearing castle, but he felt like he was drowning in darkness. He was going back to his house for Christmas holidays.

"– isn't that right Sirius?" Sirius spun around to stare at James sheepishly. He plastered on a smile, determined not to drag his friends down into his mire of depression.

"Sorry, mate," Sirius smirked, "your babbling nearly put me to sleep. What was that?" James threw him a dirty look.

"I was just telling my wonderfully attentive friends, Remus and Peter here," James said slowly, as if that would drill it into Sirius's head, "that we all have to keep in touch over the holidays. We can use owl post."

"He's not stupid," Remus said, gesturing toward Sirius, "he just wasn't listening. I don't think talking slow will help any." James just made a face.

Sirius suddenly felt an overwhelming desire to throw his arms around his friends. They wouldn't forget him; he was quite sure of that. If he could simply survive the two weeks with his family, he'd be free to return to his real family at Hogwarts.

"Of course," Sirius choked out, quickly turning to stare out the window again. He could feel his throat tightening and the view through the window was becoming blurry.

The rest of the ride passed in relative silence. James and Remus played a game of exploding snap while Peter watched avidly. Sirius stared out the window, not noticing the furtive glances James and Remus stole at him.

Finally, they reached Platform 9 ¾ and it was time to get off the train. They grabbed their trunks and began to leave the compartments. Peter and Remus left, but as Sirius was about to leave, James grabbed his arm.

"Hey," James began as Sirius looked at him in surprise, "don't think I can't tell that you're dreading this." James paused awkwardly, but Sirius knew exactly what he was trying to say.

"Just," James continued, scuffing his foot on the floor, "just don't be too hard on yourself, okay? Make sure you write." James stared at his feet.

"Thanks," Sirius muttered gruffly, wishing he could reassure James somehow, "I will." James caught his eye and they smiled, as if they weren't about to be apart for two weeks.

"Let's go," James said, "Remus and Peter probably think we're planning something horrendous without them." Sirius cracked a grin and they went to join their fellow Marauders.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

To Mister Sirius Orion Black

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

A dark, dank corner of rot

My dearest Siri-poo,

How's my darling doing locked away in the horrors of the Black family home? Are you being force fed bat brains and cricket legs to lead you away from the path of light and good? Really mate, I hope their treating you alright.

I'm having a right fine time here at home. My mum and dad are a little overly happy to have me home again. I mean really, I'm eleven years old. They don't need to act like I've left them alone and decrepit while I go have the adventure of a lifetime.

It's only been a day, and I'm already missing Hogwarts. Sad, isn't it? It's not the same without you mates. I changed all the silverware so that my mum tried to serve us soup with toothpicks, but it didn't feel the same without you.

You should come over next year, or maybe even this summer! My mum makes a wicked Christmas pudding. I know you won't be able to resist the delicious temptation of a Christmas pudding. You know you want it!

So how're you doing? Hope you're hanging in there. Write me soon. The boredom is going to kill me if you don't, and you wouldn't want me to die. Then who would you be able to bother Snape with?

The Lord of this World, James Potter

To Mister Remus Lupin

Somewhere in this world

Probably eating chocolate

Sir Remikins,

How's it going mate? I miss you, even in all your studiousness. How's your family? And where do you live anyway? I hope Geridyn, my owl, manages to find you. If this isn't Remus, please ignore this letter and all its insanity.

Anyway, what mischief have you been getting up to? Although, knowing you, you're probably reading. Reading for goodness sakes. Why would any sane person do that in their free time? Which just proves that you're insane. It's all right mate. You blend in better with us!

Write back soon! I'm fading away here at home. No Slytherins to play with in my free time. I've been reduced to wandering aimlessly through my house.

Your dearest James Potter

To Mister James Potter

Number 32 Chestridge Way

In a never-ending hallway

Dear James (or should I say Jamie-poo?),

I've been fine. I miss you mates too. I didn't realize how much I missed Hogwarts until I was reading in silent peace and was bothered by it. I guess I've spent too much time with you and Sirius never letting me get a moments peace. It's a scary thought, really.

Reading is a wonderful pastime that enriches the mind. You should try it sometime. And I'm perfectly sane, thank you very much. It's you and Sirius who are the insane ones. At least I don't go around talking nonsense to walls, or go wandering aimlessly through my house.

I live at Number 13 Wrenshire Lane. Sorry, I didn't realize I hadn't given you my address. And your Geridyn found me without too much trouble; she only had a few ruffled feathers. I'm going to keep her overnight to let her rest and then return her to you with this letter. Hopefully this will help alleviate your boredom, if only for the few minutes it takes you to read it.

Slytherins are not your toys. You have way too much fun tormenting them; I don't think it's a healthy addiction. I hope you're doing well and aren't causing too many problems for your folks.

Yours,

Remus

To Mister Peter Pettigrew

Number 67 Pentrone Drive

Picking feathers out of his pillow

Dearest Petey,

How's it going mate? Life treating you alright? How're the folks? Why am I asking you all these questions?

I miss you! Home is not the same as Hogwarts. I'll be glad to see you when we get back. Write back soon or I will suffer from a long death from boredom. And what would you do then? So you must write soon. Let me know how your holiday is going.

I'm off to eat some Christmas pudding now! Remember, you must write to me.

Your Lord and Master, James Potter

To Mister Sirius Black

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

Eating down his poor mum's house

Dear Sirius,

How are you mate? How's the holiday treating you? I hope you're enjoying your time off of school. Don't forget to do you holiday work.

My mum and dad are really happy to have me home. They're even more happy that I've made friends. It's really nice to see them again, but I miss you mates too. I can't wait to see you again at Hogwarts.

I've been reading a really interesting book on enchantments recently. I know you hate reading, but you really should read this. You might get some ideas for pranks, if you don't fall asleep first.

Anyway, write back soon! I hope you're doing all right.

Yours,

Remus

To Mister James Potter

Number 32 Chestridge Way

Wonderfully bored at home

Hi James! I'm good, thank you for asking! Sorry you're so bored, mate. Wish I could do something but I'm stuck at home. My mum is way too excited to have me here. She won't let me out of her sight.

I miss you too.

Peter

To Mister Sirius Black

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

Hopefully alive still

Hey mate, how are you? I still haven't heard from you. Maybe your owl has your sense of direction and got lost?

Well, I hope you're doing alright. I miss having you around and I'm soon going to die of boredom here. There's nothing to do except help my mum around the house and I am truly terrible at that.

How was your Christmas? I got some awesome presents. The best was from my dad, but I'll wait until we're at school to show you. It's absolutely amazing though. I know you'll love it. I think I ate just a tad too much pudding; I actually had to change clothes because I no longer fit in my jeans.

The Fat Pudding Monster, James

To Mister Remus Lupin

Number 13 Wrenshire Lane

Reading a horribly boring book

Remi-poo,

Haha! We have corrupted you, you good student you! Now, you can no longer concentrate and study like the good child you used to be. Mwahahaha!!

Books are evil. Evil I tell you! They eat your mind and then you become insane and talk to walls. Soon, Remus, you too shall be one of the terrible talk-to-wall zombies. We must save you from that terrible fate! And we do that by bothering you.

Slytherins are my toys. That's all they are good for, and you can't dispute that. And they're fun to play with! I look forward to tormenting them when we return to school.

Have you heard from Sirius? I know I might just be overly suspicious, but I've sent him two letters and he hasn't responded at all. Maybe he doesn't want to talk to me, but he was really happy when we mentioned keeping in touch. I hope his folks are treating him alright.

Your letter helped a little with the boredom. I was interested in something for about thirty seconds! Let me know what else is up.

Less bored than before,

James

To Mister James Potter

Number 32 Chestridge Way

Dying a slow death of boredom

Jamie,

No! I can feel myself slipping away. Where has the studious me gone? What have you done to me? I'll have to use the rest of the holiday to regain my good old self.

Books are a wonderful thing that make the world go around. I don't understand how you get along with never reading a book. Maybe if you read, you wouldn't be the insane one who talks to walls. I'm the sane one here.

I give up. There is no way I'll be able to convince you not to toy with the Slytherins. Oh well, at least I tried.

I haven't heard from Sirius either. I would say he's just toying with us, but I don't think that's the case. I think he might not even be receiving our letters. He'd probably write back if he did. I really hope he's alright.

There are only three more days until we return to Hogwarts, so we will see Sirius then. And we'll all be back together! I look forward to seeing you again.

Yours,

Remus

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

James waited impatiently on Platform 9 ¾ for the rest of the Marauders to arrive. He had already saved a compartment on the train but was now waiting outside with his parents for his friends.

He bounced impatiently, never staying still for more than a moment. He knew his mother was talking, but it seemed like no more than background buzzing. His eyes scanned the crowds.

Finally he spotted Peter nearly being dragged across the platform by his mum. James waved excitedly, cutting off his mum in mid sentence. Peter waved back but was scrambling after his mum so didn't stop to say anything.

Then he saw Remus walking along with his parents and his shabby trunk. Remus was heading straight for him with a spring in his step.

"Hey mate," Remus said shyly as he reached James, "how are you?" He then turned to James's parents. "Mr. Potter, Mrs. Potter," he said as he inclined his head.

"Oh no, dear, just call us Arlene and John," James's mum said, bending down to hug Remus. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Hello Mr. and Mrs. Lupin." She shook Remus's parents' hands.

"Hey," James grinned thumping Remus on the back, "I'm good, now that you made your slow way over. How have you been? Reading those evil books again?"

"Yep," Remus smiled, "and I've learned a ton from them. And I'm still not talking to walls." James made a face.

"Have you seen Sirius?" James asked quietly. "I've been looking and I saw Peter, but I haven't seen Sirius." Remus shook his head, looking worried.

"I know I arrived late," Remus said, "so it can't be good if he's not here yet. But he'll get here, I know he will."

James and Remus chatted about their Christmases while their parents talked. But their eyes were constantly scanning the crowds, looking for a familiar head of shaggy hair.

Eventually, the train's whistle blew, and Sirius still wasn't in sight. James and Remus looked at each other anxiously.

"You go on the train," James said, "I'll wait for a little longer." Remus nodded uncertainly and boarded the train. James stood on the platform, almost the last student not yet onboard the train.

With reluctance, James turned to board the train as it began to blow smoke. He wanted desperately to wait but couldn't let the train leave without him. Turning to look once more, his heart suddenly skipped a beat.

A shaggy black-haired figure was weaving through the milling crowd toward the train. Sirius had finally arrived!

James jumped down and ran to Sirius. With a grin, he clapped Sirius on the back and grabbed a handle of his trunk. The two boys dragged the trunk to the train and boarded just as the wheels began to turn.

"Whew," James gasped as they made their way to the compartment, "that was close. You're a man of excitement, eh?" Sirius didn't answer as James slid open the door.

"Hi," Remus smiled, "I thought you were going to be left behind." James grinned and ran a hand through his hair. Sirius put up his trunk and then sat in the corner.

Remus raised an inquisitive eyebrow at James who just shrugged. James flopped into an open seat and looked at Sirius carefully from under his bangs.

James nearly winced as he studied his best friend. At first glance, Sirius looked a little thin but otherwise in good health. Maybe he had a few scratches, but he was an active boy.

But James knew better. Sirius might seem physically fine, but he wasn't completely there. The Sirius that James knew was lively and upbeat. The Sirius sitting in the corner had dull eyes and was despondent. Something was definitely wrong.

"Let's play a game of exploding snap," James suggested. "It'll be me and Sirius against Remus and Peter." Peter instantly agreed, and after a glance at Sirius, Remus agreed as well. Sirius continued to stare out the window.

"Oy, mate," James said. When Sirius didn't respond, James decided to change tactics. "Sirius," he nearly yelled, "get your bum over here and play the game!"

Sirius flinched at his tone of voice but complied without ever meeting his eyes. James frowned; this wasn't what he had expected. The game passed awkwardly and Sirius barely said a word.

James was almost relieved when the train stopped and they hopped on the horseless carriages. But the silence still wasn't broken. Finally, James couldn't take it anymore.

"Did you receive our letters?" James asked Sirius. Sirius finally looked up.

"You wrote?" Sirius asked, looking interested for the first time on the entire trip.

"Of course you pig-head," James scoffed. "You didn't actually think I wouldn't write after what we said on the train did you?" When Sirius didn't say anything, James's eyes widened. "Oh blimey, you did."

"My mum must've intercepted them all," Sirius muttered. "I thought that might be it, but I wasn't sure." He trailed off into silence again.

James was fuming. He hated Sirius's parents; he truly did. What else had they done to Sirius? But he didn't think jumping off the train and returning to London by foot to strangle the Blacks would do any good.

"So mates," he said with forced calm, "how about the lovely weather we're having?" Remus stared at him blankly and Sirius burst into sniggers.

"That is the worst try at small talk that I have ever heard," Sirius chortled. James pretended to be offended but was rejoicing inside. The rest of the trip back to Hogwarts was filled with laughter as the boys caught up on everything they had missed.

They hopped off the carriages and worked their way up to Hogwarts. Sirius hadn't felt so happy since they had parted. He was finally able to push the events of the past two weeks to the back of his mind and just enjoy himself.

But as they climbed up the steps to the front doors, a reminder of his family reared its ugly head.

"Watch it, scum," sneered a cold voice. Lucious Malfoy brushed past the four boys, shoving Sirius and nearly knocking him over.

With a snarl, Sirius charged before anyone could react. Lucious went flying, landing with a satisfying thud on the hard, stone steps.

"You're the scum, you piece of –" Sirius began.

"Really?" Lucious hissed. "Because I thought you were the one who was a disgrace. I heard your dear mum had a field day when you returned home."

Sirius's face paled and his eyes became murderously black. Without hesitating, he began to beat Lucious's face into a bloody pulp. A crowd had formed around them, but at Lucious's shrieks, several Slytherins tried to attack Sirius.

But Sirius was beyond fear now and was blind to danger. As a burly friend of Lucious grabbed Sirius's shoulder, Sirius decked him straight in the nose. The boy stumbled back and fled from the fight.

This continued until three fifth year Slytherins converged on Sirius and dragged him viciously off Lucious. They held him tightly and carried him over to a cold voice.

"Well, well," sneered Bellatrix, "look what I have here." She smiled cruelly as Sirius tried to break free of the three boys and got punched for his efforts.. "I'm sure your mum will thank me for this." She raised her wand, and that was when James jumped in.

"_Wingardium Leviosa!"_ yelled James. An unsuspecting Bellatrix was raised in the air, and with a flick of his wand, James sent her flying to the side. He then turned his wand on the three boys, who looked at him with terrified eyes and fled.

James rushed to Sirius who had a bloody nose and lip. He was about to ask how he was when Sirius shoved him to the side. James gave an indignant yelp but was silenced when Sirius when flying ten feet back.

James turned and saw Bellatrix with her wand pointed at where he had been standing a second ago. Her hair was a mess and her eyes were burning with a deranged light. Sirius was sprawled on the floor with Slytherins surrounding him.

"You dare," she hissed at Sirius, "you dare to try to thwart me?" She took a menacing step forward. Sirius flinched involuntarily, fear in his eyes for the first time that night. Bellatrix noticed and gave a shrill laugh.

"You risk yourself for your worthless friend, and now you'll have to pay," she trilled coldly. "Scared?" She took another step forward, wand held in front of her.

And she suddenly went flying as a dark blur tackled her. James knocked her wand out of her hand and pinned her to the ground. He raised a fist to hit her.

"STOP!" yelled an authoritative voice. Everyone froze as they were; James with a fist in the air and the Slytherins ready to attack Sirius.

Professor McGonagall stepped out from the doors to the Great Hall, her eyes shooting sparks of fury. She walked down to where the fight had frozen.

"A fight?" she asked, voice trembling with anger. "Not even inside the school doors yet, and there is already a fight?" She pointed at all the students in the fight. "All of you, detention for two weeks. You too, Mr. Malfoy. Meet me at seven tomorrow."

She turned and swept back into the school. People began to slowly follow her. James stayed with Sirius and the other two Marauders until they were the last ones outside.

"Care to tell me what that was about?" James asked angrily. He looked hard at Sirius, who stared at his hands, blood dripping from his nose.

"You should both go to Madam Pomfrey," Remus interjected softly into the silence. James glanced at him in surprise. Remus pointed to his forehead, and James touched the spot to find warm stickiness. He had been cut when Sirius pushed him out of the way of Bellatrix's curse.

James looked at Sirius and noticed that he was much worse off than he had been earlier. Aside from the bloody nose and lip, Bellatrix's curse and his fall had torn up his robe and he had a black eye and numerous cuts and bruises.

"Yeah," James said quietly, "we'll go. Why don't you and Peter go the Great Hall to eat? We don't want to keep you from dinner."

"We don't mind goi –" Peter began, but Remus cut him off.

"Sure, we'll go," Remus said. "And Sirius, don't be too hard on yourself." Sirius tried to give Remus a smile. Remus grabbed Peter's robe and dragged him into the Great Hall, looking back over his shoulder at Sirius and James.

Sirius continued to stare at his hands, heedless of his injuries and the blood dripping from his nose. He could feel James still staring at him, and he was almost more afraid of James's questions than of Bellatrix.

"You're bleeding," James finally said. Sirius glanced up. That was all James was going to say?

"Really?" Sirius responded sardonically. "I didn't notice. And you're bleeding too." He grinned slightly.

"You're not going to tell me what happened are you?" James sighed. Sirius looked down again. What could he say? He didn't want to alienate his friends but he couldn't talk about his family.

He nearly jumped in surprise when a hand touched his shoulder. He looked up at James and then down again.

"It's fine if you don't want to talk about it," James said. Sirius felt his throat burning. "Just don't let what your mum or the Slytherins say get to you. They're all bloody idiots, and you're better than all of them."

James stopped and coughed awkwardly. He was knocked off balance and Sirius threw his arms around him hugged him hard.

"Thank you," whispered Sirius. He didn't care if he looked like a fool or seemed weak at the moment. All that mattered was that James cared about him. He didn't deserve such wonderful friends.

"No, thank you," James retorted, hugging Sirius back. Sirius stepped back and looked at him in confusion.

"What for?" he asked.

"For pushing me out of the way," James replied. "I would've been blasted pretty badly by Bellatrix if you hadn't."

"Oh," Sirius said softly, "no problem." James smiled.

"Alright," James said, "let's go the Hospital Wing and get fixed up. I can't have a scratch marring my beautiful face!" He ducked as Sirius took a swipe at his head.

"Self-obsessed moron," Sirius grinned. James wrinkled his nose, but then broke into laughter.

"Fine then, Mr. Black," James said suavely, "let's go to the Hospital Wing so that we can fix up that pretty boy face of yours." Sirius rolled his eyes but followed James into Hogwarts with a light heart.


End file.
